Wordwyrt

appearance

/əˈpɪɹəns/uh-PIH-ruhns
/əˈpɪɹəns/uh-PIH-ruhns

Meaningthe act of coming into view

Common meaning: the way someone or something looks

Other meanings: arriving

‘to, towards’ + ‘to appear’ → appearance

Journey through time

  1. Proto-Indo-European*par-‘produce, afford, prepare, share’source
  2. Latinad- + parere‘to, towards + to appear; to obey’source
  3. Latinapparere‘to appear’source
  4. Old Frenchapparoirsource
  5. Englishappear‘to come into view’
  6. Englishformed in English from appearappearance‘the way someone or something looks’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Formed in English from appear + -ance.

Dictionary: Skeat (1898), APPEAR, p.29 · scan

Roots

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app