discriminate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin discrīminātus, the past participle of discrīminō (“to divide, separate, distinguish”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} from discrīmen (“division, distinction, interval”),^[2][3][5][8] which Barnhart describes as the noun of discernō (“to separate, distinguish”), formed in the same way as crīmen beside cernō (“to sift, separate”).^[4] The verb discernō is formed from dis- (“apart, off”) and cernō,^[3][9] from Proto-Indo-European *krei- (“to sieve”).^[3][8] The English suffix is -ate.^[4][2] The adjective discriminate, distinct, comes from the same participle, used in post-classical Latin to mean "different".^[2] The word is related to discern, discreet, discrete, crime and secret.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a feature or quality, to make a difference between things, to distinguish: 1615, in Crooke's Mikrokosmographia.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates the verb to 1626, Barnhart to 1628.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century the verb meant to perceive or note a difference (1637) and, intransitively, to make distinctions or show discernment (1645).^[2][3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to mark with notes of difference".^[10] In American economic writing from 1786 it was used for treating goods or trading partners more or less favourably;^[2] the sense "to treat people unjustly", especially on grounds of race, followed in 1857 in the OED,^[2] and in 1866 in American English according to Barnhart and Etymonline.^[4][3] The approving sense survives in discriminating, "discerning".^[3] The adjective meant "distinct" from 1626, in Bacon, a sense now archaic,^[2][3] and "making careful distinctions" from 1743.^[2]

Timeline

• 1615 – to serve to distinguish.^[2]
• 1626 – adjective, distinct, in Bacon.^[2]
• 1637 – to perceive the difference in or between.^[2]
• 1645 – intransitive, to make a distinction.^[2]
• 1743 – adjective, discerning.^[2]
• 1786 – economics, to treat goods or partners unequally.^[2]
• 1857 – to treat people unjustly because of their race or another trait.^[2]
• 1866 – the same sense, in American English.^[4][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To treat a person or group unfairly, usually followed by against, because of race, sex, religion or a similar trait: The law forbids landlords to discriminate against tenants with children.^[11][2][5]
2. To see or recognize the difference between things; to distinguish: Young children cannot always discriminate fact from fiction.^[11][5][2]
3. To make fine distinctions; to be discerning.^[11][2]
4. To mark or make a difference between things.^[11][2][6]
5. In economics, to treat goods or trading partners more or less favourably than others.^[2]

Adjective

1. Making careful distinctions; discerning.^[5][2][6]
2. (archaic) Distinct or distinguished.^[5][2][6]

Word family

• discriminately
• discrimination
• discriminative
• discriminator
• discriminatory
• undiscriminated
• indiscriminate

Related words

• crime
• discern
• discreet
• discrete
• crisis
• decree
• secret

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins