distinguish
pronunciation
How to pronounce distinguish in British English:
UK [dɪˈstɪŋɡwɪʃ]
How to pronounce distinguish in American English:
US [dɪˈstɪŋɡwɪʃ]
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- Verb:
- mark as different
- detect with the senses
- be a distinctive feature, attribute, or trait; sometimes in a very positive sense
- make conspicuous or noteworthy
- identify as in botany or biology, for example
Word Origin
- distinguish (v.)
- 1560s, from Middle French distinguiss-, stem of distinguer, or directly from Latin distinguere "to separate between, keep separate, mark off, distinguish," perhaps literally "separate by pricking," from dis- "apart" (see dis-) + -stinguere "to prick" (compare extinguish and Latin instinguere "to incite, impel"). Watkins says "semantic transmission obscure;" the sense might be from "pricking out" as the old way to make punctuation in parchment or some literal image, but de Vaan derives the second element from a different PIE root meaning "to push, thrust." The meanings of ex- and restinguere 'to extinguish' and distinguere seem quite distinct, but can be understood if the root meant 'to press' or 'push': ex-stinguere 'to put a fire out', re-stinguere 'to push back, suppress', and dis-stinguere 'to push apart [thence] distinguish, mark off ...." The suffix -ish is due to the influence of many verbs in which it is the equivalent of Old French -iss-, ultimately from Latin inchoative suffix -iscere (this is also the case in extinguish, admonish, and astonish). Related: Distinguishing. The earlier form of the verb was distinguen (mid-14c.).
Example
- 1. Many brazilian industrialists distinguish between chinese and other competitors .
- 2. Curricula sometimes distinguish between training and education .
- 3. Doctors have struggled to distinguish the ailing from the malingering .
- 4. Psychologists distinguish two types of long-term memory .
- 5. Enter the electronic nose , an emerging technology that can distinguish these subtle differences .