discrepancy

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin discrepantia (“discordance, disagreement”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} from discrepāns, the present participle of discrepō (“to sound differently, differ”),^[3][4][8] which is formed from dis- (“apart”) and crepō (“to rattle, creak”).^[3][4][6] Barnhart thinks that the earlier adjective discrepant (1450) and Old French discrepance influenced it,^[4] and Klein derives it from the Old French noun.^[9] Etymonline finds Middle English discrepauns and discrepance from the mid-15th century and the modern form from the early 17th century;^[3] the OED treats these older forms as a separate, earlier noun, discrepance.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lack of agreement; inconsistency or variance: 1579, in T. Pritchard's Schoole of Honest and Vertuous Lyfe.^[2][5] Barnhart dates the noun to about 1425,^[4] while the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English date it to the early 17th century, and Dictionary.com to 1615–25.^[7][6][10]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed close to the Latin one: the abstract sense, lack of agreement, came first (1579), and the countable sense, a particular inconsistency, followed in 1583, in Philip Stubbes's Anatomie of Abuses.^[2] Etymonline glosses the word as variance or contrariety, especially of facts or sentiments,^[3] and today it is used above all of figures, accounts and claims that should match but do not.^[11][5]

Timeline

• mid-15th century – Middle English discrepauns, discrepance.^[3]
• 1579 – lack of agreement, inconsistency.^[2][5]
• 1583 – an instance of this; a particular inconsistency.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Lack of agreement or consistency, especially between facts, figures or claims that ought to match: The audit revealed some discrepancy between the two sets of books.^{[11][5][12][2]}
2. A particular case of this; an inconsistency or variation: The clerk noticed several discrepancies in the delivery records.^[5][12][2]

Related words

• discrepant
• discrepance
• decrepit
• crepitate
• disparity

Usage notes

Collins notes that discrepancy is sometimes used where disparity is meant: a discrepancy is a difference, often small but usually significant, between things that should be identical, while a disparity is a large difference between measurable things such as ages, ranks or pay.^[11]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin