Wordwyrt

defy

/dɪˈfaɪ/dih-FIGH
/dɪˈfaɪ/dih-FIGH

Meaningrenounce faith

Common meaning: openly resist

Journey through time

  1. Late Latindiffidare‘renounce faith’source
  2. Middle Englishmeaning shiftsrenounce faith → challengedefyen‘challenge’source
  3. Englishmeaning shiftschallenge → openly resistdefy‘openly resist’ · 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 Late Latin diffidare ‘renounce faith’.

Did you know: our wording, based on Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry DEFY, p. 158 · dictionary scan

Roots

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app