differ

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈdɪfə/ (UK); /ˈdɪfɚ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English differen, borrowed from Old French differer (“to differ, defer”) and directly from Latin differre, to set apart, scatter, put off, be different,^[2][3][4][5] from dis-, apart, and ferre, to carry (see bear),^[2][3][6] from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-, to carry.^[3] It is a doublet of defer.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To be different, unlike: about 1374 in the OED, about 1380 in Chaucer's Boethius in Barnhart;^[8][2] earlier differren, to put off, defer (about 1375).^[2]

Semantic evolution

The two senses of the Latin verb went separate ways in English: the transitive senses became defer, to put off, and the intransitive senses, related to different and difference, became differ,^[2][3][4] the split in form coming from a difference in stress.^[2] To disagree, be of contrary opinion, is from the 1560s (1563).^[3][8] To express disagreement, to dispute, is from 1625.^[8] In Scots a noun differ, a difference, is from the mid-16th century.^[9][8]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – to be unlike.^[8]
• c. 1375 – differren, to defer.^[2]
• 1563 – to disagree.^[8]
• 1625 – to dispute.^[8]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To be unlike or dissimilar in nature, quality or amount.
2. To be of a different opinion; to disagree.
3. (dialect) To quarrel or dispute.

Related words

• difference
• different
• differential
• differentiate
• differentiation
• differently
• indifference
• indifferent
• defer
• refer
• confer

Usage notes

To agree to differ is to end an argument while keeping different opinions.^[5]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press