Etymologically
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discrimination

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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

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