benediction
Meaninga speaking well
Common meaning: a blessing
- benewellLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 229 · scan
- dictto say, speakLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 570 · scan
- ionnoun ending: act or result
‘well’ + ‘to say, speak’ → benediction
Journey through time
- bene — Latin bene “well” (path traced)
- dict — Latin dīcō, dīxī, dictum “to say, speak” (path traced)
Parts join in French.
- Latinbene + dīcō, dīxī, dictum‘well + to say, speak’
- Englishbenediction‘a blessing’ · today
bene also in: benefitbenefactorbenevolent
dict also in: dictatedictiondictionarypredictverdict
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: Built on Latin bene ‘well’ + Latin dīcō ‘to say, speak’.
Did you know (Benediction and malediction…): our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry dīcō, p. 570 · dictionary scan
Did you know (Latin bene, well,…): our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry bene, p. 229 · dictionary scan
Did you know (Benison and benediction…): our wording, based on Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry BENISON, p. 59 · dictionary scan
Roots
- bene Latin “well”
- dīcō, dīxī, dictum Latin “to say, speak”
Related words
Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app