distinction
/dɪˈstɪŋkʃən/dih-STINGK-shuhn
/dɪˈstɪŋkʃən/dih-STINGK-shuhn
Meaningthe act of marking apart
Common meaning: a difference
Other meanings: excellence or honour
- diapart
- stinctto prick; to quenchLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 704 · scan
- ionnoun ending: act or result
‘apart’ + ‘to prick’ → distinction
Journey through time
- Proto-Indo-European*stig-‘stick or pierce, to sting, prick’source
- Latin-stinguō, -stīnctum‘to prick’
- Frenchdis
- Englishdistinct‘clearly different’
- Englishformed in English from distinctdistinction‘a difference’ · 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 distinct + -ion.
Dictionary: Skeat (1898), DISTINCT, p.173 · scan
Roots
- -stinguō, -stīnctum Latin “to prick; to quench”
Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app