Wordwyrt

affinity

/əˈfɪnəti/uh-FIH-nuh-tee
/əˈfɪnəti/uh-FIH-nuh-tee

Meaningbordering on

Common meaning: a natural closeness or liking

‘to, towards’ + ‘a boundary, end, limit’ → affinity

Journey through time

  • af — Latin ad- “to, towards” (path traced)
  • finity — Latin fīnis “a boundary, end, limit” (path traced)

Parts join in Latin as affinis.

  1. Latinad- + finis‘to, towards + a boundary, end, limit’source
  2. Latinaffinis‘bordering on’source
  3. Latinmeaning shiftsbordering on → nearnessaffinitatem‘nearness’source
  4. Frenchaffinitésource
  5. Englishmeaning shiftsnearness → a natural closeness or likingaffinity‘a natural closeness or liking’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Latin affinis, which Skeat (Concise Dictionary, 1911) analyses as ad- ‘to, towards’ + finis ‘a boundary, end, limit’.

Roots

  • affinis Latin “bordering on”
  • fīnis Latin “a boundary, end, limit”

Related words

confinedefinedefinitefinalfinancefinefinishfiniteinfinite

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