aspect

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈæs.pekt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin aspectus (“a seeing, look, appearance”),^[2][3][4] from the past participle of aspicere (“to look at”), from ad- (“to, at”) and specere (“to look”),^[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *spek- (“to observe”).^[2] It is related to spy, auspicious, despise and species.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In astrology, the relative positions of the planets as seen from the earth, that is, how they look at one another: about 1386 in the OED, about 1385 in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in Barnhart.^[6][3][2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English it also meant the action of looking, gazing (1398), and mental looking or consideration (1393), both now obsolete.^[6] The look a person wears and the appearance of things are by the early 15th century.^[2] The modern senses grew from the idea of the relation between the viewer and what is viewed.^[5] A facing in a given direction, as of a house, is from the 1660s,^[2][6] and one side of a matter, a way of seeing it, goes back to the late 14th century.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1386 – in astrology.^[6][3]
• 1398 – the act of looking.^[6]
• early 15th century – appearance.^[2]
• 1667 – a facing direction.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A particular part or feature of something: every aspect of the problem.
2. A way in which something can be viewed.
3. The appearance of something, or a person's expression.
4. The direction a building or slope faces: a southern aspect.
5. (grammar) The form of a verb that shows whether an action is complete, continuing or repeated.

Word family

• aspectual
• aspect ratio

Related words

• spy
• species
• spectacle
• inspect
• respect
• auspicious

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press