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difference

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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

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