classification
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Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˌklæsɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/ (US)[1]
Etymology
It is probably borrowed from French classification, from classe (“class”) (see class) and -fication,[2][3] or formed from the Latin stem of classify.[4]
Earliest recorded meaning
The action of arranging in classes: 1772 in Etymonline, 1790 in the OED;[4][5] MWU dates it to 1767.[2]
Semantic evolution
The result of classifying, a systematic arrangement, is from 1789 in Etymonline and 1794 in the OED.[4][5] In biology it is the arrangement of organisms in groups by their relationships,[6][7] and in government the grading of documents by secrecy is a later sense.[6][7]
Timeline
Modern meaning
Noun
- The act or process of arranging things in classes or groups.
- A category or class into which something is put.
- (biology) The systematic grouping of organisms; taxonomy.
- The grading of official information by secrecy.
Word family
- classificatorily
- classificatory
- classificational
- misclassification
- nonclassification
- overclassification
- subclassification
Related words
References
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
- ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins