Wordwyrt

assignment

/əˈsaɪnmənt/uh-SYN-muhnt
/əˈsaɪnmənt/uh-SYN-muhnt

Meaningthe act of assigning

Common meaning: a task given to someone

‘to, towards’ + ‘to mark, to set a sign on’ → assignment

Journey through time

  1. Latinad- + signare‘to, towards + to mark, to set a sign on’source
  2. Latinsignum‘a mark’source
  3. Latinassignare‘to affix a seal to’source
  4. Old Frenchassignersource
  5. Middle Englishassignensource
  6. Englishassign‘allot to someone’
  7. Englishformed in English from assignassignment‘a task given to someone’ · 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 assign + -ment.

Dictionary: Skeat (1898), ASSIGN, p.38 · scan

Roots

  • signum Latin “a mark”
  • signāre Latin “to mark, to set a sign on”

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