different between description vs history

English

Etymology

From Old French description, from Latin d?scr?pti?, noun of action of d?scr?b? (“I describe”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??sk??p??n/

Noun

description (countable and uncountable, plural descriptions)

1. A sketch or account of anything in words; a portraiture or representation in language; an enumeration of the essential qualities of a thing or species.
2. The act of describing; a delineation by marks or signs.
3. A set of characteristics by which someone or something can be recognized.

   The zoo had no lions, tigers, or cats of any description.

4. (taxonomy) A scientific documentation of a taxon for the purpose of introducing it to science.

   The type description of the fungus was written by a botanist.

5. (linguistics) The act or practice of recording and describing actual language usage in a given speech community, as opposed to prescription, i.e. laying down norms of language usage.
6. (linguistics) A descriptive linguistic survey.

Synonyms

• (characteristics): sort, kind, type, variety

Derived terms

Related terms

• describe
• descriptive

Translations

See also

• prescription
• descriptivism

Further reading

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

See also

• synopsis
• interpretation

Anagrams

• discerption, predictions

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin d?scripti?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?s.k?ip.sj??/
• Homophone: descriptions

Noun

description f (plural descriptions)

1. description

Related terms

• décrire
• descriptif

Further reading

• “description” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Old French

Etymology

From Latin d?scripti?.

Noun

description f (oblique plural descriptions, nominative singular description, nominative plural descriptions)

1. description

Related terms

• descrivre

English

Alternative forms

• historie (obsolete)
• hystory (nonstandard)
• hystorie (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English historie, from Old French estoire, estorie (“chronicle, history, story”) (French histoire), from Latin historia, from Ancient Greek ??????? (historí?, “learning through research”), from ??????? (historé?, “to research, inquire (and) record”), from ????? (híst?r, “the knowing, wise one”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“see, know”). Doublet of story and storey.

Attested in Middle English in 1393 by John Gower, Confessio Amantis, which was aimed at an educated audience familiar with French and Latin.

Pronunciation

• enPR: h?s?t(?)r?, h?s?tr?, IPA^(key): /?h?st(?)?i/, /?h?st(?)??/
• Hyphenation: his?to?ry, hist?ory

Noun

history (countable and uncountable, plural histories)

1. The aggregate of past events.

   Synonyms: background, past

2. The branch of knowledge that studies the past; the assessment of notable events.

3. (countable) A set of events involving an entity.
4. (countable) A record or narrative description of past events.

   Synonyms: account, chronicle, story, tale

5. (countable, medicine) A list of past and continuing medical conditions of an individual or family.

   Synonym: medical history

6. (countable, computing) A record of previous user events, especially of visited web pages in a browser.

   Synonym: log
7. (informal) Something that no longer exists or is no longer relevant.

8. (uncountable) Shared experience or interaction.

Derived terms

Descendants

• Pitcairn-Norfolk: histrei

Translations

Verb

history (third-person singular simple present histories, present participle historying, simple past and past participle historied)

1. (obsolete) To narrate or record.

References

Further reading

• history on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• history at OneLook Dictionary Search
• history in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• "history" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 146.
• history in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Toryish, Troyish, roytish

Middle English

Noun

history

1. Alternative form of historie