description

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dɪˈskrɪp.ʃᵊn/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English descripcioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French description and directly from Latin dēscrīptiō (“representation, description, copy”) (accusative dēscrīptiōnem),^[2][3] a noun of action from the past participle of dēscrībere (“to write down, copy, sketch”),^[2][4] from dē- (“down”) and scrībere (“to write”),^[2] from Proto-Indo-European *skribh- (“to cut”).^[2] It is related to describe and script.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A statement that describes or portrays something: 1340 in the OED.^[5] Etymonline dates descripcioun to the late 14th century, as the act of delineating or depicting.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Setting something forth in words by its recognisable features is from about 1380,^[5] as is writing down in a register, enrolment.^[5] A sort or kind, capable of being described, is from about 1391 in the OED,^[5] and Etymonline dates “type, sort, kind” to 1781, from the notion of the qualities that represent a class.^[2] In logic, a definition by accidental properties is from 1628.^[5] Beyond description means to an astonishing extent.^[6]

Timeline

• 1340 – a descriptive account.^[5]
• c. 1380 – the act of describing; enrolment.^[5]
• c. 1391 – a sort or kind.^[5]
• 1628 – in logic.^[5]
• 1781 – type, kind.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act or technique of describing.
2. A spoken or written account of something.
3. A picture or representation.
4. A sort or kind: vehicles of every description.

Word family

• redescription
• job description

Related words

• describe
• descriptive
• script
• scribe
• inscription
• prescription

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 i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press