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description

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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
  • 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