punishment
/ˈpʌnɪʃmənt/PUH-nish-muhnt
/ˈpʌnɪʃmənt/PUH-nish-muhnt
Meaningthe act of punishing
Common meaning: a penalty for wrongdoing
- puna penalty, punishmentLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1390 · scan
- ishverb ending (from French -iss-)
- mentnoun ending: act or result
Journey through time
- Latinpoena‘a penalty, punishment’
- Middle Englishpunischensource
- Englishpunish‘to make someone suffer for a wrong’
- Englishformed in English from punishpunishment‘a penalty for wrongdoing’ · 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 punish + -ment.
Dictionary: Skeat (1898), PUNISH, p.478 · scan
Roots
- poena Latin “a penalty, punishment”
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