Etymologie, Etimología, Étymologie, Etimologia, Etymology, (griech.) etymología, (lat.) etymologia, (esper.) etimologio
UK Vereinigtes Königreich Großbritannien und Nordirland, Reino Unido de Gran Bretaña e Irlanda del Norte, Royaume-Uni de Grande-Bretagne et d'Irlande du Nord, Regno Unito di Gran Bretagna e Irlanda del Nord, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, (esper.) Britujo
Ismus, Ismo, Isme, Ismo, Ism, (esper.) ismoj
VA-Ismen - lat. "trahere"

abstract (W3)

engl. "abstract": Based on general ideas or principles rather than specific examples or real events; in academia, a summary of a paper or text. Middle English "abstrakte" - Latin "abstractus" = "pulled away" - "abs-" = "away" + "trahere" = "to draw", "pull".

contract (W3)

"contract": To draw together and become smaller. From Latin "contrahere" = "to draw together" - "com" = "together" + "trahere" = "to draw".

detract (W3)

"detract": To diminish the value or importance of something. From Latin "detrahere" = "to pull down" - "de-" = "down" + "trahere" = "to draw".

distraction (W3)

The ages of distraction

Frank Furediis a sociologist and social commentator. Formerly professor of sociology at the University of Kent in Canterbury, he has written numerous books, the latest of which is How Fear Works (2018).
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How to reduce digital distractions: advice from medieval monks
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Definitions

"distraction", noun

"Something that distracts."

"The process of being distracted."

Translations: German: "Ablenkung"

Distraction.

An excellent example of how greatly the meaning of words may change. To "distract" means now, "to harass", "to perplex"; and "distraction" = "confusion of mind from a great multiplicity of duties"; but in French to "distract" means "to divert the mind", and "distraction" means "recreation" or "amusement" (Latin, "dis" - "traho"). (See "SLAVE".)

"distraction display" - "Verleiten" (ger.)

Protective behaviour of parents in regard to their offspring intended to distract the enemy by pretending an injury. (HWB)
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distraction

ORIGIN OF DISTRACTION

1425–75; late Middle English (Anglo-French ) - Latin "distraction" - (stem of "distractio") separation. See "distract", "distraction"

WORDS NEARBY DISTRACTION

"distract", "distracted", "distracted driving", "distractibility", "distraction", "distractive", "distractor", "distrail", "distrain", "distrainee"
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Driving to Distraction [radio]

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Distracted from distraction by distraction
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• [Ads-l] "distraction" -- the (not-so-)new euphemistic apology upon "resigning" Joel Berson
• [Ads-l] "distraction" -- the (not-so-)new euphemistic apology upon "resigning"? Wilson Gray
• [Ads-l] "distraction" -- the (not-so-)new euphemistic apology upon "resigning"? (UNCLASSIFIED) Mullins, Bill CIV (US)

• [Ads-l] "distraction" -- the (not-so-)new euphemistic apology upon "resigning"? Joel S. Berson
• [Ads-l] "distraction" -- the (not-so-)new euphemistic apology upon "resigning"? Laurence Horn
• [Ads-l] "distraction" -- the (not-so-)new euphemistic apology upon "resigning"? Cohen, Gerald Leonard

• The non-apologetic "distraction", Bridgegate, and their political polar vortex Joel S. Berson

15TH CENTURY: "distraction"

"distraction", noun

"distraction" (Lat. "distrahere" = "to draw away", hence "to distract") is here considered in so far as it is wont to happen in time of prayer and in administering the sacraments.
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Limericks on "bored to distraction"

Limericks on "distraction"

Limericks on "distraction burglar"

Shakespeare concordance: all instances of "distraction"

"distraction" occurs 12 times in 14 speeches within 9 works.

Possibly related words: "distracted", "distract", "distractions", "distracts"

• Antony and Cleopatra (2)
• Hamlet (2)
• Henry VIII (1)
• Merry Wives of Windsor (1)
• Sonnets (1)
• Tempest (1)
• Troilus and Cressida (2)
• Twelfth Night (2)
• Winter's Tale (2)

Shakespeare concordance: all instances of "distractions"

"distractions" occurs 2 times in 2 speeches within 2 works.

• Antony and Cleopatra (1)
• Tempest (1)

Contraction distraction

BY EDWIN L. BATTISTELLAAPRIL 10TH 2022

A few years ago, a student dropped a linguistics course I was teaching because the textbook used contractions. The student had done some editorial work and felt that contractions did not belong in a college textbook, much less one he was paying 50 dollars for. It was probably all for the best. If he didn’t like contractions, he probably would’ve hated the course.
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• "distraction" (n.): "perturbation", "agitation", "frenzied state" - Headword location(s)
• "distraction" (n.): "madness", "derangement", "insanity" - Headword location(s)
• "distraction" (n.): "division", "small detachment" - Headword location(s)

EVASIVE MANEUVERS - EUPHEMISMS OLD AND NEW

Finding Distraction in the Historical Dictionary of American Slang

June 10, 2020

By Mark Peters

I've always been a bit of a prepper, but instead of hand grenades and soup cans, I collect books — especially dictionaries. So sometime during this interminable spring of social distancing and horrendous news, I got lost in Jonathan Lighter's wonderful "Historical Dictionary of American Slang" ("HDAS").

I would share euphemisms from the whole dictionary, but it was never completed — one of the saddest stories in the increasingly bleak story of American lexicography. Instead, here's a look at euphemisms just from H, the holiest of slang letters. Even by restricting myself to one letter, I had to leave out plenty. "HDAS" is a treasure, and slang even more so.
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TEACHERS AT WORK - A COLUMN ABOUT TEACHING

Choosing Literature in an Age of Distraction

February 15, 2010

By Michele Dunaway

We welcome back Michele Dunaway, who teaches English and journalism at Francis Howell High School in St. Charles, Missouri, when she's not writing best-selling romance novels. Here Michele argues that to get students excited about books in this highly distracted era, choosing the right literature to read is key.
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distraction – n. an object that directs one's attention away from something else

"distraction addict"

n. A person whose attention is easily and constantly drawn away from the task at hand.

Also Seen As: "distraction-addict"

Other Forms: "distraction addiction" n.
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"weapon of mass distraction"

n. Something that distracts large numbers of people from thinking about important issues.

4. Noted this week

NOSE DISTRACTION This is a fine example of official euphemism in Britain. It is part of a restraint system called "physical control in care" for young offenders held in secure training centres. Nose distraction is a method of last resort to end a violent situation. Essentially it is a karate chop to the nose.

"Osteodistraction": (surgery) The surgical correction of skeletal deformities by the lengthening of bones.

distrait (W3)

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WORDS NEARBY DISTRAIT

"distractor", "distrail", "distrain", "distrainee", "distraint", "distrait", "distraite", "distraught", "distress", "distress call", "distressed"
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"distrait", adjective

Inattentive or preoccupied, especially because of anxiety.

[Middle English, from Old French, past participle of "distraire", "to distract", from Latin "distrahere".]
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draw (W3)

Why do we call a tie a "draw"?

In his autobiography, Thomas Jefferson wrote: "If he lost the main battle, he returned upon you, and regained so much of it as to make it a drawn one". Here, Jefferson is describing a legislative fight over land tenure, but some pundits might think it well characterizes Donald Trump's performance in the second presidential debate. This quote isn't just timely, though: It also points to the origin of why we call "ties" "draws".

"Draw"

By the Oxford English Dictionary's (OED) reckoning, the earliest record of "draw" [dt. "Unentschieden"], as in a contest that ends with no winner, comes in reference to an 1856 US chess match. Over the next few decades, writers marked off draw with quotes or italics, which shows the word was novel. The word was familiar by the 1870s.

This "draw" is short for "draw-game", which the OED finds for a "tie" by 1825. A "draw-game", in turn, is a variation on a "drawn battle" or "drawn match". The OED dates "drawn match" to a 1610 letter from English diplomat Sir Dudley Carleton: "It concluded, as it is many times in a cock pit, with a "drawn match"; for nothing was in the end put to the question". (Before pilots occupied them, game-cocks fought in cockpits.)

Why such a battle or match is characterized as "drawn" is unclear: Indeed, etymology often ends in draws. "Drawn" may be clipped from "withdrawn", as in fighters who have "withdrawn from the battlefield". "Withdraw", "to take back or away", features an old and original sense of the preposition with, "against", even though it now, ironically enough, means "together". "Draw", meanwhile, is related to "drag". And "withdraw" itself might be a calque, or loan translation, of Latin's "retrahere" = "to retract".

With some seeing the debate - set up as a town hall with drawn voters, so to speak - as a draw, we'll see whether or not many GOP politicians continue withdrawing their support from Trump following the leak of his lewd Comments. Either way, it certainly feels like none of us are winners when a presidential debate has to be dragged down so low.

entreat (W3)

ENTREATMENTS, sub. invitations

• entreat
• entreated
• entreaties
• entreaty

Definitions "entreat"

"entreat"
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Word History: In Middle English our word today was "entreten", from Anglo-Norman "entreter", the French language as spoken in England from 1066 to 1204. "Entreter" was a remake of Old French "entraiter" = "to treat (as)" composed of "en-" = "to make", "cause" + "traiter" = "to treat (as)". French inherited this verb from Latin "tractare" = "to handle", "manage", "treat (as)". "Tractare" was the frequentative form (meaning "occurs frequently") of "trahere" = "to pull", "draw", whose past participle was "tractus". "Trahere" was inherited from PIE "dhreg-"/"dhrog-" = "to draw", "pull", "drag", also the source of English "drag" and Russian "doroga" = "road".

| entreateindre | [entreatraire]

"Entreat" means "plead", from the sense of negotiation; an act of pleading is called an "entreaty" and the notion of doing so is "entreatment". To "retreat" is to draw back, literally or figuratively, and a "retreat" is such a movement, or an event at which one withdraws from one’s daily routine to study or reflect.

"entreat", "entreatable", "entreater", "entreating", "entreatingly", "entreative", "entreatment", "entreaty"

"entreat", intransitive verb: To make an earnest petition or request; to plead.

"entreat", transitive verb: To ask earnestly; to beseech; to petition for.
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"Entreat" derives from Medieval French "entraiter", from "en-" (from Latin "in-"), intensive prefix + "traiter", "to treat", from Latin "tractare", frequentative of "trahere", "to draw", "to pull", "to drag".

Synonyms: "beg", "beseech", "implore", "solicit".

Usage: "Entreat" applies to an effort to persuade or to overcome opposition, and usually implies less personal, emotional involvement than "beg".

"entreat" (v.)

c. 1400, "to enter into negotiations", especially "discuss or arrange peace terms"; also "to treat (someone) in a certain way", from Anglo-French "entretier", Old French "entraiter" = "to treat", from "en-" = "make" (see "en-" (1)) + "traiter" = "to treat" (see "treat" (v.)). Meaning "to beseech", "implore", "plead with (someone)" is from early 15c.; meaning "to plead for (someone)" is from mid-15c. Related: "Entreated"; "entreating".

Entries linking to entreat

"en-" (1)

word-forming element meaning "in"; "into", from French and Old French "en-", from Latin "in-" = "in", "into" (from PIE root "*en" = "in"). Typically assimilated before "-p-", "-b-", "-m-", "-l-", and "-r-". Latin "in-" became "en-" in French, Spanish, Portuguese, but remained "in-" in Italian.

Also used with native and imported elements to form verbs from nouns and adjectives, with a sense "put in or on" (encircle), also "cause to be", "make into" ("endear"), and used as an intensive ("enclose"). Spelling variants in French that were brought over into Middle English account for parallels such as "ensure"/"insure", and most "en"- words in English had at one time or another a variant in "in-", and vice versa.

"treat" (v.)

c. 1300, "negotiate", "bargain", deal with", from Old French "traitier" = "deal with", "act toward"; "set forth (in speech or writing)" (12c.), from Latin "tractare" = "manage", "handle", "deal with", "conduct oneself toward", originally "drag about", "tug", "haul", "pull violently", frequentative of "trahere" (past participle "tractus") = "to pull", "draw" (see "tract" (n.1)).

Meaning "to entertain with food and drink without expense to the recipient by way of compliment or kindness (or bribery)" is recorded from c. 1500. Sense of "deal with", "handle", or "develop in speech or writing" (early 14c.) led to the use in medicine "to attempt to heal or cure", "to manage in the application of remedies" (1781). Related: "Treated"; "treating".

"entreaty" (n.)

mid-15c., "treatment"; "negotiation"; see "entreat" + "-y" (1). Meaning "urgent solicitation", "earnest request" is from 1570s. Related: "Entreaties".

14. Jh.: "entreat"

1530: "entreaty"

entreat | entreaty
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Synonyms

• appeal (to)
• beg
• beseech
• besiege
• conjure
• impetrate
• implore
• importune
• petition
• plead (to)
• pray
• solicit
• supplicate

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Limericks on "entreat"

Limericks on "entreatance"

Limericks on "entreative"

Limericks on "entreaty"

Shakespeare concordance:

entreat (115) | entreated (12) | entreaties (10) | entreating (1) | entreatments (1) | entreats (15) | entreaty (12)

"entreat" occurs 115 times in 159 speeches within 36 works.

Possibly related words: "entreats", "entreated", "entreating", "entreatments"

• All's Well That Ends Well (3)
• Antony and Cleopatra (7)
• As You Like It (7)
• Coriolanus (4)
• Cymbeline (3)
• Hamlet (7)
• Henry IV, Part I (2)
• Henry IV, Part II (2)
• Henry V (2)
• Henry VI, Part I (3)
• Henry VI, Part II (5)
• Henry VI, Part III (3)
• Henry VIII (6)
• Julius Caesar (4)
• King John (2)
• King Lear (7)
• Love's Labour's Lost (3)
• Macbeth (1)
• Measure for Measure (6)
• Merchant of Venice (5)
• Midsummer Night's Dream (5)
• Much Ado about Nothing (2)
• Othello (6)
• Pericles (3)
• Richard II (2)
• Richard III (11)
• Romeo and Juliet (3)
• Taming of the Shrew (11)
• Tempest (1)
• Timon of Athens (5)
• Titus Andronicus (10)
• Troilus and Cressida (5)
• Twelfth Night (3)
• Two Gentlemen of Verona (4)
• Venus and Adonis (2)
• Winter's Tale (4)

• "entreat", "intreat" (n.) -------------------------------------------------- entreaty, supplication, plea ------ Headword location(s)
• "entreat", "intreat" (v.) -- Old form(s): entreate , Intreate , intreated -- persuade, prevail upon ------------ Headword location(s)
• "entreat", "intreat" (v.) -- Old form(s): In treates ----------------------- beseech, beg, ask earnestly ------- Headword location(s)
• "entreat", "intreat" (v.) -- Old form(s): Entreate ------------------------- treat, handle, deal with ---------- Headword location(s)
• "entreat", "intreat" (v.) -------------------------------------------------- negotiate, intervene, parley ------ Headword location(s)
• "entreatment" (n.) --------------------------------------------------------- interaction, exchange, discourse -- Headword location(s)

entreat

• "entreat" ask for or request earnestly
• "entreatingly" in a beseeching manner
• "entreaty" earnest or urgent request

"entreat": ask for or request earnestly
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tra-, tract-, trac-, -tractive, -traction, -tracting, treat-, trai- (Latin: drag, draw together).
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entreat
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• entreat
• entreatable
• entreatance
• entreated
• entreater
• entreaters
• entreatest
• entreateth
• entreatful
• entreaties
• entreating
• entreatingly
• entreative
• entreatment
• entreatments
• entreats
• entreaty
• unentreated

extract (W3)

"extract": To remove something from somewhere. From Latin "extrahere" = "to draw out" - "ex-" = "out" + "trahere" = "to draw".

intractable (W3)

"intractable"

MEANING: adjective: Not easily handled, managed, or controlled.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin "tractare" (to handle), frequentative of "trahere" ("draw"). Earliest documented use: 1545.

USAGE: ...

protract (W3)

"protract": To prolong in space and time; to extend forward. From Latin "protrahere" = "lengthening" - "pro-" = "forward" + "trahere" = "to draw".

"protract", "tr.verb

• 1. To draw out or lengthen in time; prolong: disputants who needlessly protracted the negotiations.
• 2. Mathematics. To draw to scale by means of a scale and protractor; plot.
• 3. Anatomy. To extend or protrude (a body part).

[Latin "protrahere", "protract-" : "pro-", "forth" + "trahere", "to drag"]

retract (W3)

"retract", Verb

Meaning:

• 1. To draw or pull back.
• 2. Take back, withdraw, recant, disavow.

Notes: "Retract" is a member of a family of words borrowed from Latin and its granddaughter, French, like "attract", "distract", "extract". They share the sense of drawing or pulling in different directions. The action noun for "retract" is "retraction", though the lexical oddity "retractation" is also available. The active adjective is "retractive" and the passive, "retractable".
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Word History: Today's Good Word was lent to English from French "rétracter" = "to retract", built on Latin "retractus", the past participle of "retrahere" = "to draw back, withdraw". Latin used the prefix re- in the sense of "back", probably a reduction of PIE wret- a metathesized version of vert- "to turn", which then merged with another word meaning "again". -Tractus comes from PIE tragh-, a variant of dragh- "draw, drag", the ultimate source of English draw and drag and source also of Sanskrit dhrajati "pulls", Polish droga "road", Russian doroga "road" and droshky "carriage", Welsh troed "foot", Irish troigh "foot", Breton troad "foot", and Hindi draiga "drag". (Now let's offer Mike Nichols an irretractable expression of gratitude for suggesting today's movable Good Word.) Dr. Goodword, alphaDictionary.com

"retract", verb

transitive verb

• 1: to draw back or in
• 2 a: take back, withdraw
• 2 b: disavow [dt. "nicht anerkennen", "abrücken", "sich lossagen von", "in Abrede stellen", "ableugnen"]

intransitive verb

• 1: to draw or pull back
• 2: to recant or disavow something

"retractable", adjective
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Etymology: Middle English, from Latin "retractus", past participle of "retrahere" — more at "RETREAT"

First Known Use: 15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

subtraction (W3)

subtraction

Subtraction Game

Word Subtraction

By Sharon

We all know you can form new words by adding existing words together, such as combining boat and house to make boathouse or houseboat. But did you know that a lot of common words are also formed by "subtraction" or taking a piece away from a longer word?

The linguistic term for this is clipping. It means shortening an existing word to form a new word. The clipped form has the same meaning as the original word and becomes a word in its own right, rather than an abbreviation. This means it can be combined with other words to form compounds

Here are some examples of clipped forms

• biopic - biographical picture
• bra -brassière
• burger - hamburger
• bus - omnibus
• cello - violoncello
• exam - examination
• flu - influenza
• fridge - refrigerator
• gas - gasoline
• gym - gymnasium
• lab - laboratory
• math - mathematics (clipped to maths in British English)
• memo - memorandum
• mob - mobile vulgus (fickle crowd in Latin)
• movie - moving picture
• pants - pantaloons
• phone - telephone
• piano - pianoforte
• plane - airplane
• pram - perambulator
• sitcom - situation comedy
• tie - necktie
• typo - typographical error

There are lots more, of course, but these are clipped forms that have more or less replaced the longer original in everyday speech.

ORIGIN OF "SUBTRACTION"

1350–1400; Middle English - Late Latin "subtraction" - (stem of "subtractio") "a withdrawing", equivalent to "subtract(us)" (see "subtract") + "-ion" - "-ion"

subtraction

10,000 results

"subtraction" (n.)

c. 1400, "withdrawal", "removal", from Late Latin "subtractionem" (nominative "subtractio") = "a drawing back", "taking away", from past participle stem of Latin "subtrahere" = "take away", "draw off", "draw from below", from "sub" = "from under" (see "sub-") + "trahere" = "to pull", "draw" (see "tract" (n.1)). The mathematical sense is attested from early 15c.

Related words:

• substract
• subtract
• subtrahend

Entries linking to subtraction

"sub-"

word-forming element meaning "under", "beneath"; "behind"; "from under"; "resulting from further division", from Latin preposition "sub" = "under", "below", "beneath", "at the foot of", also "close to", "up to", "towards"; of time, "within", "during"; figuratively "subject to", "in the power of"; also "a little", "somewhat" (as in "sub-horridus" = "somewhat rough"), from PIE "*sup-", "*up-" (perhaps representing "*ex-upo-"), a variant form of the root "*upo" = "under", also "up from under". The Latin word also was used as a prefix and in various combinations.

In Latin assimilated to following -c-, -f-, -g-, -p-, and often -r- and -m-. In Old French the prefix appears in the full Latin form only "in learned adoptions of old Latin compounds" [OED], and in popular use it was represented by "sous-", "sou-"; as in French "souvenir" from Latin "subvenire", "souscrire" (Old French "souzescrire") from "subscribere", etc.

The original meaning is now obscured in many words from Latin ("suggest", "suspect", "subject", etc.). The prefix is active in Modern English, sometimes meaning "subordinate" (as in "subcontractor"); "inferior" (17c., as in "subhuman"); "smaller" (18c.); "a part or division of" (c. 1800, as in "subcontinent").

"tract" (n.1)

"area", mid-15c., "period or lapse of time", from Latin "tractus" = "track", "course", "space", "duration", lit, "a drawing out or pulling", from stem of "trahere" = "to pull", "draw", from PIE root "*tragh-" = "to draw", "drag", "move" (source also of Slovenian "trag" = "trace", "track", Middle Irish "tragud" = "ebb"; perhaps with a variant form "*dhragh-"; see "drag" (v.)). The meaning "stretch of land or water" is first recorded 1550s. Specific U.S. sense of "plot of land for development" is recorded from 1912; "tract housing" attested from 1953.

bag subtraction ⩁

saturating subtraction ∸

Earliest Uses of Symbols of Operation

ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION SYMBOLS

Words Created By Subtraction Or Addition
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Many common words have been shortened from the original term as in the table below.

Modern Word Original Form

• bra - brassière
• bus - omnibus (Latin: for everyone)
• exam - examination
• gym - gymnasium
• knickers - knickerbockers
• lab - laboratory
• mob - mobile vulgus (Latin: fickle crowd)
• petrol - petroleum (Greek: rock oil)
• pram - parambulator

Subtraction

Subtraction Worksheets

15TH CENTURY: "subtraction"

"subtraction", noun

: an act, operation, or instance of subtracting: such as

• a: the withdrawing or withholding of a right to which an individual is entitled
• b: the operation of deducting one number from another

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Etymology: Middle English "subtraccion", from Anglo-French "sustraction", "subtraction", from Late Latin "subtraction-", "subtractio", from Latin "subtrahere"

First Known Use: 15th century, in the meaning defined above

We found 39 dictionaries with English definitions that include the word "subtraction":
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English "subtraction"

French "soustraction"

Subtraction is a morphological process of modification that removes one or more segments from a root or stem.
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Earliest Uses of Symbols of Operation

ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION SYMBOLS
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Issued by Turkey in 1959 "subtraction"

subtraction

bag subtraction: ⩁

saturating subtraction: ∸

"SOSTRACTION", "soustraction", "subtraction"

In math, "subtraction" is when you take one number away from another number. In other words, the "subtraction" of two from five gives you an answer of three.
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Subtraction

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Considering that people have been keeping records on everything from wax and clay tablets to animal skins and tree bark for at least 4000 years, it’s a bit of a shock to discover that our symbols for operations like "addition" and "subtraction" are less than 500 years old. But it’s only in such comparatively recent times that most calculations have been done by making marks on paper.
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tract (W3)

engl. "tract"

When "tract" is off track

November 4, 2016
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"tract" and "track" are not synonyms. They mean different things and are not interchangeable.

As a general rule, the word for an extent or expanse of something (like a plot of land), or for a system of organs, is "tract". The word for a "trail", "path", "line", or "course" (academic or otherwise) is "track".
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Despite their similar sounds, "tract" and "track" come from different sources, "tract" from Latin and "track" from Germanic.

But as we’ll explain, both of these words, first recorded in English in the 15th century, ultimately have to do with "pulling", "dragging", or "drawing out". So over the centuries they’ve occasionally overlapped.
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As the Oxford English Dictionary explains, "tract" comes from the noun "tractus", which in Latin means "a drawing", "dragging", "pulling", "trailing", derived from the verb "trahere" ("to draw", "drag").

The more distant ancestor is a prehistoric Indo-European root reconstructed as "tragh–" ("pull", "move", "run"), which is a "rhyming variant" of "dhragh–" ("drag"), according to The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

The first example in writing is far off the beaten path. In 1486, it appeared as an obscure term in heraldry for a longitudinal division of a field within a coat of arms.

The OED’s earliest example is from a Middle English work, The Book of St. Albans, which has a passage devoted to the subject: "Off tractys in armys" ("Of tracts in arms"). This sense of "tract" is now obsolete.

The principal meanings of "tract" all have to do with the extent or duration of something, senses that began showing up around 1500 in relation to time.

These senses of the word, and the dates when they first appeared, include a time delay or deferral (1503-1504); a period of time, as in a "longe tracte of tyme" (sometime before 1513); a stretch of territory or an expanse of space, air, water, etc. (1533); an anatomical structure, usually extending lengthwise, in a plant or animal, such as the "alimentary tract" (1681); a bounded parcel of land, especially one slated for development (1912).

The OED notes, though, that over the years "tract" was sometimes used in the senses of "track" and "trace", but later on, the words diverged again.

For instance, during the 16th to 19th centuries "tract" was sometimes used to mean a "path", "route", or "course of action". This usage is now rare or obsolete, the OED says, and the meaning is "usually expressed by track".

And during the same period "tract" was sometimes used to mean "a mark left behind", like a "footprint" or "trail". This usage, too, is now rare or obsolete, and Oxford says the usual word is "trace".

Another, unrelated meaning of "tract" should be mentioned here. The noun for "a piece of writing", as in a book or pamphlet, showed up in the 1400s, an apparent abbreviation of "tractatus", a Latin noun meaning "a handling", "treatment", "discussion", "treatise", the OED says.

The dictionary’s earliest examples, "tractes of God" and "a generalle tracte", are from 15th-century documents that are perhaps as early as 1425 or as late as 1475.

When "track" entered English in the 1400s, it meant pretty much what it means today, if you add in the later figurative uses.

This is the OED’s earliest definition: "The mark, or series of marks, left by the passage of anything; a trail; a wheel-rut; the wake of a ship; a series of footprints; the scent followed by hounds".

The dictionary’s first written example is dated 1470-85: "Myght I fynde the trak of his hors I shold not fayle to fynde that Knyghte" (from Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur).

Unlike "tract", as we mentioned earlier, the noun "track" did not come from Latin, according to etymologists.

"Track" entered English through Old French ("trac"), but language scholars generally think the French borrowed it from Germanic sources, the OED explains.

The dictionary says that it may have entered French by way of the Middle Low German and Middle Dutch noun "trek" ("a pull" or "a haul"). In both Germanic languages, the verb "trekken" means "to draw", "pull", "tug", "drag", or "haul".

How did an English word derived from Germanic sources for "dragging" and "pulling" come to mean a "trail"?

The OED explains that "the original sense would appear to have been the line or mark made on the ground by anything hauled or dragged, whence also the mark made or path beaten by the feet of man or beast".

Though etymologists don’t link "track" to ancient Indo-European, it seems likely that the Germanic "trekken" has prehistoric origins that would connect it to "tract". But the evidence, if it exists, apparently hasn’t been found.

Some later senses of the word, and the dates when they were first recorded in writing, include a route of travel (1576); a course of action or conduct (1638); a path or rough road (1643); a railway line (1806); a race course (1836); a branch of athletics (1905); a set of grooves on a record album, hence a recorded piece of music (1904); an educational stream (1959).

The word has given us many catchphrases and figurative expressions, including to shoot someone "dead in his tracks" (1824); to "make tracks" (1835-40); to be on a "false track" (1871); "covering up his tracks" (1878); "to keep track of" (1873); "on the right track" (1886); "on a wrong track" (1889); "one loses all track of" (1894); "kept close track of" (1902); "from the wrong side of the railroad tracks" (1945, later with "railroad" omitted); "made me stop dead in my tracks" (1954); "keep us on track" (1978).
...

"tra-", "tract-", "trac-", "-tractive", "-traction", "-tracting", "treat-", "trai-" (Latin: "drag", "draw together").

• abstract
• abstracted
• abstraction
• abstractionism
• attract
• attraction
• attractive
• contract
• contractile
• contractility
• contraction
• contractor
• contractual
• detract
• detraction
• detrain
• distract
• distraction
• distraught
• entrain
• entreat
• extract
• intractable
• maltreat
• mistreat
• portrait
• portray
• protract
• protractile
• protraction
• protractor
• retract
• retraction
• retreat
• subtract
• subtraction
• subtrahend
• trace
• tract
• tractability
• tractable
• tractableness
• tractile
• traction
• tractor
• trail
• trailer
• train
• trainee
• trainer
• trait
• trawler
• treat
• treatise
• treaty
• trial

tractable (W3)

"tractable", adjective

• 1: capable of being easily led, taught, or controlled : DOCILE
• 2: easily handled, managed, or wrought : MALLEABLE

"tractability", noun, "tractableness", noun, "tractably", adverb
...
Etymology: Latin "tractabilis", from "tractare" = "to handle", "treat"

First Known Use: 1502, in the meaning defined at sense 1

...
Note the similarity between "tractable" and "tractor". Both come from the Latin word "tractare", which originally meant "to drag about". You can think of a "tractable" person as someone who can be dragged about easily, like a plow being dragged by a "tractor".
...

"tractable", adjective. Easily handled, managed, or controlled. [From Latin "tractare" ("to handle"), frequentative of "trahere" ("draw"). Earliest documented use: 1504.]
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trahere (W3)

lat. "traho"

• engl. "abstract"
• engl. "abstracted"
• engl. "abstractedly"
• engl. "abstraction"
• engl. "attract"
• engl. "attraction"
• engl. "attractive"
• engl. "attractively"
• engl. "attractiveness"
• engl. "contract"
• engl. "contracted"
• engl. "contractile"
• engl. "contraction"
• engl. "contractor"
• engl. "contractual"
• engl. "detract"
• engl. "detraction"
• engl. "distract"
• engl. "distraction"
• engl. "distraught"
• engl. "entreat"
• engl. "entreaty"
• engl. "extract"
• engl. "extraction"
• engl. "extractor"
• engl. "ill-treat"
• engl. "ill-treatment"
• engl. "intractable"
• engl. "intreat"
• engl. "maltreat"
• engl. "portrait"
• engl. "portraiture"
• engl. "portray"
• engl. "protract"
• engl. "retrace"
• engl. "retract"
• engl. "retreat"
• engl. "subtract"
• engl. "subtraction"
• engl. "subtrahend"
• engl. "trace"
• engl. "traceable"
• engl. "tracery"
• engl. "tract"
• engl. "tractable"
• engl. "traction"
• engl. "tractor"
• engl. "train"
• engl. "trainer"
• engl. "training"
• engl. "trait"
• engl. "treat"
• engl. "treatise"
• engl. "treatment"
• engl. "treaty"
• engl. "unattractive"
• engl. "untrained"
• engl. "well-trained"

Words Drawn from "Trahere"

By Mark Nichol

The Latin verb "trahere" is the source of an assortment of words pertaining to drawing or to drawing or pulling out. This post lists and defines the English descendant "tract" and terms formed from that root word; a follow-up post will discuss trahere’s disguised offspring.

Most words in the trahere family are based on "tract", which itself refers to an area of land (hence "tract home" to refer to a dwelling that is part of a housing development) or to a bundle of related nerve fibers or an anatomical system, as well as, less commonly, a period of time. ("Tract" also refers to a political or religious pamphlet.)

A "tractor" is a vehicle that pulls. (A "tractor" that pulls cargo containers is sometimes called a "semitractor", or a "semi".) "Traction" is the act of, or the force exerted in, pulling, or a force that causes a moving object to resist movement, or, figuratively, support necessary to achieve progress.

Words that combine a prefix with "tract" include "abstract" (literally, "draw from"), which as an adjective means "disassociated", "formal", "impersonal" or "theoretical" and as a noun means "summary of a document". "Abstraction" is the quality of exhibiting one of these states, or the act or state of summarization. Meanwhile, to "attract" is to literally or figurative draw toward; "attraction" is the associated force or quality, and something that "attracts" is an "attractor".

"Contract" (literally, "draw with") means "enter into an agreement"; "be affected by" or "incur"; or "physically shorten", "restrict", or "wrinkle". ("Contraction" is the act or condition of being restricted or shortened.) As an adjective, the word pertains to being hired for a task rather than as an employee; one who works under these conditions is a "contractor" (not a "contractee"), and a "contractor" may hire assistants or specialists as "subcontractors". The adjective "contractual" refers to an agreement, but "something that can be contracted" is "contractible", and "the capacity to be contracted" is "contractability". In the euphemistic slang of organized crime, "to put out a contract on someone" is "to hire someone to kill someone else".

One who "detracts" takes away, and the act is "detraction". That word generally refers to an instance of belittling or disparagement, and the actor is a "detractor". "Distrahere", meaning "draw in different directions", is the parent word of the verb "distract" and the noun "distraction", as well as "distraught", an adjective originally meaning "deranged" or "mad" but now most often pertaining to emotional distress.

"Extract" means "to take out", and an "extract" is "something taken out"; such an action is an "extraction". To protract ("draw forward") is to continue or extend; the word is not employed as a noun, but a "protractor" is one who "protracts" or a muscle that does so, as well as a mathematical tool for drawing and measuring angles. ("Protracted" serves as an adjective.)

To "retract", by contrast, is "to draw back in", or 2to disavow or withdraw a claim or other statement", including an offer or a promise. An act of "retracting" is a "retraction". Meanwhile, "to subtract" is to take away, especially in the mathematical sense, and "subtraction" is the act of taking away. A "subtrahend" is a "number subtracted by another". (The other is called a "minuend"; that word, related to "minor" and "minute", is from the Latin verb "minuere", meaning "lessen".)

More Words Drawn from "Trahere"

By Mark Nichol

A recent post explored "tract" and other words derived from the Latin verb "trahere" ("draw") that are based on "tract". Here, other words stemming from "trahere" that do not build on "tract" are listed and defined.

The descendant of "trahere" that most closely resembles "tract" is "trace". To "trace" is to discover or follow, to form or imprint, or to copy or record. A "trace" is a path or line (or a geometrical intersection), a barely detectable or measurable amount or a vestige of something, or a marking or plan. Someone or something that traces is a "tracer", such as a substance that enables observers to chart a process or the progress of a condition in a medical patient; a "tracer bullet" is ammunition that gives off light or smoke to mark its path, helping the gunner determine accuracy of aim.

To "trail" is to extend or hang down, to carry, drag, or tow, to lag behind, straggle, or plod, to dwindle, or to pursue prey. A "trail" is a course or path or a sign of progress along a course or path "portray", such as a mark or a scent. It may also refer literally to something that is or appears to be drawn along or figuratively to an aftermath. Something that trails is a "trailer", such as a vehicle that carries cargo or another vehicle or serves as a temporary shelter. In filmmaking, a "trailer" is an extra length of film attached at the end of a reel of footage or, counterintuitively, a short selection of footage from a film or television program that serves as a preview.

"Treat", from "trahere" by way of "tractare", which came to mean "conduct oneself" or "manage", means "bargain", "negotiate", or "deal with". Extending the sense of "deal with", "treat" also came to refer to medical attention, and from the other senses it eventually applied to food or drink offered to others. That sense resulted in the use of treat to refer to a delicacy (as in the Halloween expression "Trick or treat") and, by extension, a pleasant experience.

The noun "treatment" pertains to how something is managed or how one behaves toward someone or something, or to medical attention. (A medical condition is called "treatable" or "untreatable" based on whether there is a cure for it.)

To "maltreat" or "mistreat" is to abuse; the noun forms are "maltreatment" and "mistreatment". Meanwhile, a "treatise" is a methodical argument or exposition that treats, or deals, with a topic, and a "treaty" is a document that details an agreement resulting from negotiation.

American English directly borrowed "trattoria", an Italian word for a small restaurant, to refer to such establishments, usually ones featuring Italian cuisine, in the United States; the word stems from the French verb "traitier" (meaning "treat"), which derives from "tractare".

One who trains is a "trainer", and one who is trained is a "trainee". Someone or something that can be trained is "trainable", and the antonym is "untrainable". (Something not or not yet trained is "untrained".) To "retrain" is to train again, and "training" is both a verb referring to the action and a noun referring to the act or process (as well as an adjective).

"Portray" (literally, "draw forth") means "draw" or "paint"; the result is a "portrait". (Both words also refer, by extension, to any characterization or description of one or more people.) "Portraiture" is the act of making portraits, though the word may also be synonymous with "portrait".

"Trait", derived from "trahere" by way of "tractare", means "characteristic" or "quality" or, less commonly, a stroke or trail.

("Traitor" is unrelated; it stems from "tradere", meaning "deliver" and is therefore related to "trade".)
...

In "Practica" (1539) Cardano used "detrahere" ("to draw from" or "to take from").

In his arithmetic, Boethius uses "subtrahere", but in geometry attributed to him he prefers "subducere".

From Smith (vol. 2, page 95): The word "subtract" has itself had an interesting history. The Latin "sub" appears in French as "sub", "soub", "sou", and "sous", "subtrahere" becoming "soustraire" and "subtractio" becoming "soustraction". Partly because of this French usage, and partly no doubt for euphony, as in the case of "abstract", there crept into the Latin works of the Middle Ages, and particularly into the books printed in Paris early in the 16th century, the form "substractio". From France the usage spread to Holland and England, and from each of these countries it came to America. Until the beginning of the 19th century "substract" was a common form in England and America, and among those brought up in somewhat illiterate surroundings it is still to be found. The incorrect form was never popular in Germany, probably because of the Teutonic exclusion of international terms.

"tra-", "tract-", "trac-", "-tractive", "-traction", "-tracting", "treat-", "trai-" (Latin: "drag", "draw together").

• abstract
• abstracted
• abstraction
• abstractionism
• attract
• attraction
• attractive
• contract
• contractile
• contractility
• contraction
• contractor
• contractual
• detract
• detraction
• detrain
• distract
• distraction
• distraught
• entrain
• entreat
• extract
• intractable
• maltreat
• mistreat
• portrait
• portray
• protract
• protractile
• protraction
• protractor
• retract
• retraction
• retreat
• subtract
• subtraction
• subtrahend
• trace
• tract
• tractability
• tractable
• tractableness
• tractile
• traction
• tractor
• trail
• trailer
• train
• trainee
• trainer
• trait
• trawler
• treat
• treatise
• treaty
• trial

train (W3)

To "train" (from "trahere" by way of "traginare") is to literally or figurative draw along by directing, instructing, or teaching, or to subject oneself to such actions. One may "train" an aiming device at a target or objective, and "train" can also mean simply "drag".

A "train" is one or more of various things (or people) drawn by something else. It can consist of one or more connected vehicles drawn along a road or a railway by an engine, or simply a moving line of vehicles (or people or animals); it can also refer to a group of followers or attendants. (To "entrain" is to board a railroad train.) "Train" might also pertain to support vehicles and personnel for a military unit detailed for combat, to a series of mechanical parts that enable motion or a literal or figurative equivalent for achieving results, or to an order of occurrence or a succession of thoughts or actions. A "train" is also that part of a gown fashioned to trail along behind the person wearing it.

"train": Long piece of material attached to the back of a formal dress. Middle English "trayne" = "a delay" - Latin "trahere" = "to pull" or "draw".

Athletes in tow.
...
To recap for the benefit of folks who missed my earlier column, the word "coach" derives from the Hungarian village of Kocs, famous in the 16th century for manufacturing high quality "horse-drawn carriages". In the 18th century, "coach" became college student slang at British universities for a "tutor" whose expertise could, metaphorically, whisk a student over the rocky road of study as quickly and painlessly as a swift horse-drawn coach.

"Train", as both a noun and a verb, followed a somewhat different track. The ultimate root of "train" is the Latin "trahere", meaning "to pull", and English adopted the word "train" from the Old French "trainer", meaning "to pull or draw" in the 14th century. As a noun, "train" had several early senses involving the general idea of "delay" or "drawing things out", but also referred to "things dragged along or behind", as in the "train" of a bridal gown. About 1440, "train" also acquired the sense of "a series or sequence", as we use it today in "a train of thought". It was this sense of "things pulled behind" that eventually, in the 19th century, led a connected series of railroad cars drawn by a locomotive to be called a "train".

Early in its history, however, "to train" had also taken on the meaning of "to manipulate", "to direct", found in the use of "train" as a gardening term in the 15th century meaning to cause a plant to grow in a desired direction. By the 16th century, "train" was being applied to molding human beings in the proper direction, and eventually we ended up with "personal trainers", lucky us.

So in the case of "train", the conveyance actually came quite a bit later than the "instruct" meaning, but the "dragging" sense is inherent in "training".

trailer (W3)

Semi-trailer
...
The simple wooden box mounted on two wheels and pulled behind a car to transport bulky and/or heavy objects from the hardware store is known as a "trailer". The huge and frightening metal box mounted on 400 wheels and pulled behind an equally huge diesel truck is known as a "semi-trailer". Something doesn’t add up. Why is the larger one considered only half of the smaller one? — Jim Brown.

That’s a good question, but before we begin I should note that "big rigs" of the sort you’re talking about usually have eighteen "wheels" (actually tires), not 400. I actually tried to learn to drive one of those things once, and I did OK going forward, but I was absolutely flummoxed by trying to back up to a loading dock. By the way, there is nothing quite like unloading 30-pound bundles of newsprint from a 40-foot steel trailer — by hand — on a lovely August afternoon. It’s like doing push-ups in a microwave oven. Yes, I’ve had some really awful jobs.

"Semi-trailer trucks" (aka "semis"), also known as "tractor-trailer trucks" and, apparently, "articulated lorries" in Britain, have been in use since the early 20th century, but only became really common in the US with the development of the interstate highway system after World War II. The usual configuration of these trucks is a long trailer with eight tires on two axles at the rear of the trailer, pulled by a "tractor" truck unit with ten tires (two axles of four at the rear, one with two in front). Incidentally, a "tractor" driven with no "trailer" attached is called "bobtailed", and is usually a very bumpy ride.

The root sense of "trailer" is "someone who follows a trail" or, more relevantly, "something that is dragged along behind". The verb "to trail" comes ultimately from the Latin "trahere", meaning "to drag", "draw", "pull" or "haul". (That "trahere", incidentally, also gave us the English word "tractor".) The use of "trailer" to mean an unpowered vehicle towed by a car or truck dates back to around 1890. Interestingly, "trailer" in the sense of "short promotional excerpt from a movie" dates back to 1928. They were originally shown after, not before, the main feature, thus the name.

There are all sorts of trailers in use, from the small cargo trailers you rent and hitch to your car to the sort of "Long, Long Trailer" that gave Lucy and Desi such grief in the 1953 movie of that name. Strictly speaking, a "full trailer" has both front and rear axles and is simply pulled behind the towing vehicle. But the "trailer" of a "semi-trailer truck" has no front wheels. The front of the "trailer" (and about half the trailer’s weight) rests on the rear of the "tractor" (locked in a peg-and-collar gizmo called a "fifth wheel"). The trailer swings separately from the tractor in turns, but in most respects you’re dealing with a single, unified vehicle. Thus the term "semi-trailer" ("semi" here meaning simply "incompletely" or "only half") distinguishes this arrangement from a "full trailer".

withdraw (W3)

TIME, emoji, and the unusual "with-" in "withdraw"

Posted on APRIL 29, 2018

This past week, TIME magazine’s talented Katy Steinmetz interviewed me for a fantastic piece on the challenges of using words that have offensive histories, such as "bulldozer". (Steinmetz also interviewed me back in 2016, you may recall, about the fascinating Japanese linguistics behind words like "Pokémon" and "karaoke".)

Catch up on my writing for the wonderful "Emojipedia", too. This month, I wrote about "Smirking Face emoji", ever smug and suggestive in its many applications in our digital communication.

The verb "smirk", for its part, dates back to the Old English "smearcian", which was the go-to word for smile until the latter took over in Middle English. "Smirk" survived, but with a connotation of self-satisfaction. Cognates to "smirk" are not found in other Germanic languages, but "smirk" and "smile" do appear to be related in some way.

And "quoth" is not some old-fashioned form of "quote", as I explain for Oxford Dictionaries. It comes from the Old English "cweðan" = "to say" or "speak" and related to "bequeath". "Quote" is from Latin; its root also provides "quotient".

Recent news has thrust "incel" and "pansexual" into the spotlight. Read about what these unusual-seeming words are in my Weekly Word Watch while you’re on the Oxford Dictionaries blog.

From "against" to "together"
...
The "with-" in "withdraw", a verb not firmly attested until the 1300s, means "away" or "back", making "withdraw" = "to draw back". And indeed, the preposition "with" originally meant "against" in Old English — the exact opposite of what it came to mean in Middle English when it shifted to senses of "union" or "accompaniment".

In Old English, "mid" served the function of the modern "with", surviving in "midwife" (literally "a with-woman") and ousted by "with" due to some interference from Old Norse and Latin words, apparently.

Outside "withdraw", the "against" sense of "with" also remains in "withhold" and "withstand". Etymologists think that "withdraw" could be a calque (loan translation) of the Latin "retrahere" (literally "draw back", source of "retract"), "withhold" for "retinere" ("hold back", "retain"), and "withstand" for "resistere" ("stand back", "resist").

I hope to be back on schedule soon. In the meantime, my other work should give you plenty of etymological content to tide you over.

with (prep.)

Old English "wið" = "against", "opposite", from, "toward", "by", "near", a shortened form related to "wiðer", from Proto-Germanic "*withro-" = "against" (source also of Old Saxon "withar" = "against", Old Norse "viðr" = "against", "with", "toward", "at", Middle Dutch, Dutch "weder", Dutch "weer" = "again", Gothic "wiþra" = "against", "opposite"), from PIE "*wi-tero-", literally "more apart", suffixed form of "*wi-" = "separation" (source also of Sanskrit "vi" = "apart", Avestan "vi-" = "asunder", Sanskrit "vitaram" = "further", "farther", Old Church Slavonic "vutoru" = "other", "second"). Compare "widow" (n.).

Sense shifted in Middle English to denote "association", "combination", and "union", partly by influence of Old Norse "vidh", and also perhaps by Latin "cum" = "with" (as in "pugnare cum" = "fight with"). In this sense, it replaced Old English "mid" = "with", which survives only as a prefix (as in "midwife"). Original sense of "against", "in opposition" is retained in compounds such as "withhold", "withdraw", "withstand".

Often treated as a conjunction by ungrammatical writers and used where and would be correct. First record of "with child" = "pregnant" is recorded from c. 1200. "With it" = "cool" is African-American vernacular, recorded by 1931. French "avec" = "with" was originally "avoc", from Vulgar Latin "*abhoc", from "apud hoc", literally "with this".