discrimination

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dɪˌskrɪm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin discrīminātiō (“a contrasting, separation, distribution”) (accusative discriminationem),^[2][3][4] a noun of action from discrīmināre (“to divide, separate, distinguish”) (see discriminate),^[3][5] from discrīmen (“separation, distinction”), the noun to discernere (“to distinguish”) (see discern).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The making of distinctions, the act of marking a difference: 1648 in the OED,^[6] the 1640s in Etymonline;^[3] a distinction or difference itself is from 1646,^[6] and MWU's first known use is 1621.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The faculty of observing differences accurately, discernment, is from 1814,^[6][3] and fine discrimination in matters of taste followed.^[7] The sense of making distinctions prejudicial to a class of people, usually on grounds of race or colour, is from 1866, in the American English of the Reconstruction;^[3][6] the verb discriminate has the same sense from the same year.^[8] In psychology, telling apart one stimulus from another in learning is from 1890.^[6] A rare 17th-century use meant the same as recrimination.^[6] In electronics, discrimination is the selection of a signal by a particular property, such as frequency.^[7]

Timeline

• 1646 – a distinction, difference.^[6]
• 1648 – the act of distinguishing.^[6]
• 1814 – discernment.^[6][3]
• 1866 – prejudicial treatment of a group.^[3][6]
• 1890 – in psychology.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Unfair treatment of a person or group on grounds such as race, sex or age; prejudice.
2. The ability to see fine distinctions and differences; discernment.
3. Refined judgment in matters of taste.
4. The act of distinguishing one thing from another.

Word family

• discriminational
• antidiscrimination
• indiscrimination
• nondiscrimination
• self-discrimination
• price discrimination
• reverse discrimination

Related words

• discriminate
• discern
• crime
• criminal
• certain

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. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology