discern
pronunciation
How to pronounce discern in British English:
UK [dɪˈsɜːn]
How to pronounce discern in American English:
US [dɪˈsɜːrn]
-
- Verb:
- detect with the senses
Word Origin
- discern
- discern: [14] Discern, discreet, discrete, and discriminate all come ultimately from the same source, Latin discernere, literally ‘separate by sifting’, hence ‘distinguish’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix dis- ‘apart’ and cernere ‘sift, separate’ (source of English crime and secret and related to crisis).The derived noun discrīmen formed the basis of a new Latin verb discrīmināre, from which English gets discriminate [17]. (Closely related is decree [14], whose ultimate source is Latin dēcernere ‘decide’, also a derivative of cernere but with the prefix dē-, denoting removal.)=> certain, crime, crisis, decree, discreet, discrete, discriminate, excrement, secret
- discern (v.)
- late 14c., from Old French discerner (13c.) "distinguish (between), separate" (by sifting), and directly from Latin discernere "to separate, set apart, divide, distribute; distinguish, perceive," from dis- "off, away" (see dis-) + cernere "distinguish, separate, sift" (see crisis). Related: Discerned; discerning.
Example
- 1. Many presenters get distracted by trying to discern the intention behind questions or comments .
- 2. Semantic technology can discern what it is .
- 3. Causation is harder to discern for equity prices .
- 4. And most people do gain , even if the improvement in their way of life can sometimes be hard to discern .
- 5. They also say that it is increasingly impossible to discern the geographic source of specific innovations .