topography
Meaningplace drawing
Common meaning: the shape of land
- topa placeLiddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), p. 1565 · scan
- graphto scratch marks, hence to write or drawLiddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), p. 317 · scan
- ynoun ending: study, state or act
‘a place’ + ‘to scratch marks, hence to write or draw’ → topography
Journey through time
- top — Greek τόπος “a place” (path traced)
- graph — Ancient Greek γράφω (gráphō) “to scratch marks, hence to write or draw” (path traced)
Parts join in Latin as topographia.
- Greekτόπος + γράφω (gráphō)‘a place + to scratch marks, hence to write or draw’
- Latintopographia
- Frenchtopographie
- Englishtopography‘the shape of land’ · 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: Built on Greek τόπος ‘a place’ + Ancient Greek γράφω (gráphō) ‘to scratch marks, hence to write or draw’.
Did you know (Geography, topography, photograph,…): our wording, based on Liddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), entry γράφω (gráphō), p. 317 · dictionary scan
Did you know (Greek topos, a…): our wording, based on Liddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), entry τόπος, p. 1565 · dictionary scan
Roots
- γράφω (gráphō) Ancient Greek “to scratch marks, hence to write or draw”
- τόπος Greek “a place”
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