direction

/dəˈekʃən/dur-EK-shuhn
/dɚˈɛkʃən/dur-EK-shuhn

Meaninga setting straight

Common meaning: the way something faces or moves

‘apart’ + ‘straight’ → direction

Journey through time

  1. Latinrēctus‘straight’
  2. Englishdirection‘the way something faces or moves’ · today

di- also in: digestdirectdistildivergedivulge

rect also in: rectorrectifyrectangleerectdirect

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 rēctus ‘straight; right’.

Did you know: our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry rēctus, p. 1536 · dictionary scan

Roots

  • rēctus Latin “straight; right”

Related words

correctdirecterectrectanglerectifyrector

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