Wordwyrt

offender

/əˈfendə/uh-FEN-dur
/əˈfɛndɚ/uh-FEN-dur

Meaningone who offends

Common meaning: a person who breaks the law

‘against (form of ob-, before f)’ + ‘to strike, ward off’ → offender

Journey through time

  1. Proto-Indo-European*dhan-‘strike’source
  2. Latin-fendō, -fēnsum‘to strike, ward off’
  3. Frenchoffendre
  4. Middle Englishoffendensource
  5. Englishoffend‘to cause someone hurt or annoyance’
  6. Englishformed in English from offendoffender‘a person who breaks the law’ · 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 offend + -er.

Dictionary: Skeat (1898), OFFEND, p.401 · scan

Roots

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app