different between concern vs affair

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French concerner, from Medieval Latin concern?, concernere (“I distinguish, have respect to”), from Latin concern? (“I mix, sift, or mingle together, as in a sieve”), combined form of con- + cern? (“distinguish”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /k?n?s?n/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /k?n?s??n/
• Rhymes: -??(?)n
• Hyphenation: con?cern

Noun

concern (countable and uncountable, plural concerns)

1. That which affects one’s welfare or happiness. A matter of interest to someone.

   Synonym: interest

2. The expression of solicitude, anxiety, or compassion toward a thing or person.
3. A business, firm or enterprise; a company.

4. (programming) Any set of information that affects the code of a computer program.
   • 2006, Awais Rashid, Mehmet Aksit, Transactions on Aspect-Oriented Software Development II, page 148:

     At the programming level, an aspect is a modular unit that implements a concern.

Translations

Further reading

• concern in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• concern in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Verb

concern (third-person singular simple present concerns, present participle concerning, simple past and past participle concerned)

1. (transitive) To relate or belong to; to have reference to or connection with; to affect the interest of; to be of importance to.
   • 1611, Bible (KJV), Acts xxviii. 31

     Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ.

   • 1708, Joseph Addison, The Present State of the War, and the Necessity of an Augmentation

     our wars with France have always affected us in our most tender interests, and concerned us more than those we have had with any other nation

   • 1821, James Fenimore Cooper, The Spy

     ignorant, so far as the usual instruction was concerned
2. (transitive) To engage by feeling or sentiment; to interest.
   • a. 1729, John Rogers, A Sufficiency adjusted and recommended

     They think themselves out the reach of Providence, and no longer concerned to solicit his favour.
3. (transitive) To make somebody worried.

Synonyms

• (to be of importance to): See also Thesaurus:pertain

Derived terms

• concernable

Translations

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English concern.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?n?s?rn/
• Hyphenation: con?cern
• Rhymes: -?rn

Noun

concern n (plural concerns, diminutive concerntje n)

1. company, business, concern

Derived terms

• chemieconcern

English

Alternative forms

• affaire (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English afere, affere, from Old French afaire, from a- + faire (“to do”), from Latin ad- + facere (“to do”). See fact, and confer ado.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /??f??/
• (otherwise) (US) IPA^(key): /??f??(?)/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??f??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)

Noun

affair (plural affairs)

1. (often in the plural) Something which is done or is to be done; business of any kind, commercial, professional, or public.

   Synonyms: matter, concern
2. Any proceeding or action which it is wished to refer to or characterize vaguely.
3. (military) An action or engagement not of sufficient magnitude to be called a battle.
4. A material object (vaguely designated).

   • The house was a big elaborate limestone affair, evidently new. Winter sunshine sparkled on lace-hung casement, on glass marquise, and the burnished bronze foliations of grille and door.
5. An adulterous relationship. (from affaire de cœur).
6. A romantic relationship with someone who is not one's regular partner (boyfriend, girlfriend).
7. A person with whom someone has an adulterous relationship.
8. A party or social gathering, especially of a formal nature.
9. (slang, now rare) The (male or female) genitals.
   • 1748, John Cleland, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure:

     [S]he, with the greatest effrontery imaginable, unbuttons his breeches, and removing his shirt, draws out his affair, so shrunk and diminished that I could not but remember the difference, now cresfallen, or just faintly lifting its head.

Translations

See also

• liaison

References

• affair in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• raffia

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English affair, from French affaire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a?fe?/, [a?fe?]

Noun

affair m (plural affaires)

1. affair (extramarital relationship)

   Synonym: aventura