resemble English · revision 39901

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1340, Ayenbite of Inwyt|origins=la similis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ɹɪˈzɛmbəl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|resemblen]], [[bor|fro|resembler|t=to be like]] (12th century; modern [[m|fr|ressembler]]), also Anglo-Norman,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 2026)^(AHD 2024)^(Hoad 1986) from [[re-]] and [[m|fro|sembler|t=to seem, appear, be like]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024)^(Skeat 1911)^(Klein 1966) from [[m|la|simulō|t=to make like, imitate, copy]], also [[m|la|similō]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(Dictionary.com 2016) from [[m|la|similis|t=like]], the source of [[similar]].^(Etymonline)^(Ayto 2005)^(AHD 2024) The prefix is perhaps intensive, so that the French verb meant "to be very like".^(Etymonline)^(Ayto 2005)^(Barnhart 1988) The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from the early 12th century, also in the sense "to compare".^(AND)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To be like, to have a likeness to another person or thing: 1340, in the ''Ayenbite of Inwyt''.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle English the verb also meant to make something similar to another (a1393, Gower), to depict or make an image of (a1393, to 1638), to imitate (Chaucer's ''Boece'', ?c1400) and to seem or appear (?a1425, to 1565), all now obsolete.^(OED 2026) The sense "to compare, liken", recorded from c1400 in ''Piers Plowman'', is now rare and archaic;^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024) it was the first sense Johnson (1755) gave,^(Johnson 1755) and it survived in North Lincolnshire dialect, as in the King James Bible's "Whereunto shall I resemble it?" (Luke 13:18).^(Wright 1898) The noun [[resemblance]], likeness, is recorded before 1393 in Gower's ''Confessio Amantis'', borrowed from Anglo-French.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1340 – to be like.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * a1393 – to depict, make an image of (obsolete).^(OED 2026)

+ * a1393 – ''resemblance''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c1400 – to compare, liken.^(OED 2026)

+ * ?c1400 – to imitate (obsolete).^(OED 2026)

+ * ?a1425 – to seem, appear (obsolete).^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To be [[similar]] to or look like: ''She strongly resembles her grandmother.''^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # (archaic) To [[compare]] or [[liken]].^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[resembler]]

+ * [[resemblingly]]

+ * [[resemblance]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[similar]]

+ * [[semblance]]

+ * [[simulate]]

+ * [[assemble]]

+ * [[dissemble]]

+ * [[simile]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The OED also records an obsolete ''resemble'', "to assemble, bring together" (a1450–1622), formed from ''re-'' and ''semble''.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}