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discover

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /dɪˈskʌv.ə/, US /dɪˈskʌv.ɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English discoveren, borrowed from Old French descovrir (“to uncover, unveil, reveal”),[2][3][4] from Late Latin discooperīre,[3][5] from dis- (“opposite of”) and cooperīre (“to cover completely”).[2][3] See cover.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To reveal or disclose: before 1325, in Cursor Mundi, in Barnhart, about 1300 in Etymonline.[3][2] At first it often meant to betray someone's secrets, and a discoverer was an informer.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English it also meant literally to uncover, as to take off one's hat or the roof of a building,[2][6] a sense Trench notes in the Bible: “The voice of the Lord discovereth the forests”.[7] To reconnoitre is from 1375, now obsolete.[6] To find out something unknown, the main modern sense, is from the 1550s,[2] the 16th century in Hoad.[4] Discovery is from 1553, in Hakluyt's Voyages.[3] To make a person famous, as in discovering a new singer, is from 1908.[2] In chess, discover check is from 1614.[6]

Timeline

  • before 1325 – to reveal.[3]
  • 1382 – to uncover.[6]
  • 1550s – to find out.[2]
  • 1553 – discovery.[3]
  • 1908 – to make famous.[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To find something or someone, especially for the first time.
  2. To find out or realize something: she discovered that he had lied.
  3. To be the first to find or learn about something: Fleming discovered penicillin.
  4. To find a talented person and make them known.
  5. (archaic) To reveal or disclose.

Word family

  • discoverable
  • discoverer
  • discoverably
  • prediscover
  • rediscover
  • discovered check

Usage notes

Discover is used for finding what already exists, invent for making what did not exist before, as the Century Dictionary notes.[2] Discover, ascertain, determine and learn all mean to gain knowledge of something not known before.[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 c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin