topic

pronunciation

How to pronounce topic in British English: UK [ˈtɒpɪk] word uk audio image

How to pronounce topic in American English: US [ˈtɑːpɪk] word us audio image

Noun:

the subject matter of a conversation or discussion
some situation or event that is thought about

Word Origin

topic: topic: [16] Greek tópos meant ‘place’. From it was derived the adjective topikós ‘of a place’, which came to mean ‘commonplace’. Aristotle used it in the title of his treatise Tà topiká, which contains commonplace arguments, and it was with direct reference to this that the word first arrived in English (via Latin topica). The sense ‘subject, theme’ arose in the 18th century from the notion of the various heads of argument contained in Tà topiká and works like it.The derived topical [16] originally meant ‘of topics’; the specialization to ‘of topics of the day, of current interest’ is as recent as the second half of the 19th century. The word’s original notion of ‘place’ is preserved in topography [15] and topology [17]. The diminutive form of Greek tópos was tópion ‘small place’, hence ‘field’.Latin took over its plural as topia, and used it for ‘ornamental gardening’. From it was derived the adjective topiārius, which forms the basis of English topiary [16].=> topiary, topography

topic (n.): 1630s, "a class of considerations from which probable arguments can be drawn," singular form of "Topics" (1560s), the name of a work by Aristotle on logical and rhetorical generalities, from Latin Topica, from Greek Ta Topika, literally "matters concerning topoi," "commonplaces," neuter plural of noun use of topikos "pertaining to a common place, of a place, local," from topos "place" (see topos). The meaning "matter treated in speech or writing, subject, theme" is first recorded 1720.

5. Cognitive enhancements are a complex topic , but they have aspects that are intrinsically valuable .