assignment

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈsaɪn.mənt/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English assignement, borrowed from Old French assignement (“legal assignment of dower”),^[2][3][4] from Medieval Latin assignamentum, from assignāre (“to allot, assign”) (see assign).^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

An order, command or bidding: 1393 in the OED, the late 14th century in Etymonline.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Appointment to an office or to a purpose is from 1447, the mid-15th century in Etymonline.^[6][2] The allotting of a share is from 1460,^[6] and in law the transfer of a right or property from 1592.^[6] An assignation, an arranged meeting, is an obsolete sense of 1670.^[6] In Australia, the assigning of convicts to colonists as unpaid servants is from 1843.^[6] A task assigned, such as schoolwork, is by 1848.^[2]

Timeline

• 1393 – an order (obsolete).^[6]
• 1447 – appointment to office.^[6]
• 1592 – legal transfer.^[6]
• 1843 – the assignment of convicts.^[6]
• 1848 – a task assigned.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A task or piece of work given to someone, as part of a job or course of study.
2. A position or post to which someone is assigned.
3. The act of assigning.
4. (law) The transfer of a right or property, or the document recording it.

Word family

• misassignment
• nonassignment
• reassignment

Related words

• assign
• assignation
• sign
• consign
• design

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press