disaster
/dɪˈzæstə/dih-ZA-stur
/dɪˈzæstɚ/dih-ZA-stur
Meaninga bad star
Common meaning: a sudden great misfortune, once blamed on the stars
- disapart, away; not
- astera starLiddell & Scott, Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (1889), p. 126 · scan
‘apart, away’ + ‘a star’ → disaster
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 Greek ἄστρον; ἀστήρ ‘a star’.
Did you know (Old French desastre…): our wording, based on Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry DISASTER, p. 168 · dictionary scan
Did you know (Greek aster, "star",…): our wording, based on Liddell & Scott, Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (1889), entry ἄστρον, p. 126 · dictionary scan
Roots
- ἄστρον; ἀστήρ Greek “a star”
Related words
Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app