difference

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈdɪf.ər.əns/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English difference,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French difference (“difference, distinction; argument, dispute”) and directly borrowed from Latin differentia (“diversity, difference”),^[4][5] from differēns (accusative differentem), the present participle of differre (“to set apart”),^[4][5] from dis- (“apart, away”) and ferre (“to bear, carry”),^[4] from Proto-Indo-European *bher- (“to carry”).^[4] It is related to differ and different.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The condition of being different: 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt,^[5][6] the mid-14th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

A particular point of unlikeness is from 1393.^[6] “A disagreement, dispute, quarrel” is from the late 14th century (1387),^[4][6] and at difference, “at variance”, from 1525.^[6] In heraldry a difference is a mark that distinguishes the arms of one branch of a family from another, from 1481;^[6] In stock dealing the difference was the change in price between two dates, from 1717,^[6] and to split the difference is from before 1778.^[6] The verb, “to make different, distinguish”, is from 1481.^[6][2] In Yorkshire and Lincolnshire a difference was a wordy quarrel.^[7]

Timeline

• 1340 – the state of being different.^[5][6]
• 1387 – a dispute.^[6]
• 1393 – a point of unlikeness.^[6]
• 1481 – a heraldic mark; verb, to make different.^[6]
• 1717 – a change in stock prices.^[6]
• before 1778 – split the difference.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The quality of being unlike.
2. A way in which things differ.
3. The amount by which things differ; in mathematics, the result of subtraction.
4. A noticeable change or effect: make a difference.
5. A disagreement or quarrel.
6. (heraldry) A mark added to a coat of arms to distinguish a branch of a family.

Verb

1. To distinguish or differentiate.

Word family

• diff
• common difference
• finite difference
• potential difference
• symmetric difference
• vive la difference

Related words

• differ
• different
• differentiate
• differentiation
• differential
• indifferent
• defer
• fertile
• transfer
• bear

Usage notes

Of the nouns for a lack of correspondence or agreement, such as dissimilarity, divergence, variation and discrepancy, difference is the most general.^[8]

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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin