elegant
/ˈeləɡənt/EH-luh-guhnt
/ˈɛləɡənt/EH-luh-guhnt
Meaningchoosing out
Common meaning: graceful, stylish
- eoutSkeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), p. 187 · scan
- legantto gather, pick out; to readLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1048 · scan
‘out’ + ‘to gather, pick out’ → elegant
Journey through time
- e — Latin ex- “out” (path traced)
- legant — Latin legō, lēgī, lēctum “to gather, pick out; to read” (path traced)
Parts join in Latin as elegantem.
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 elegantem, which Skeat analyses as ex- ‘out’ + leg- ‘to gather, pick out; to read’.
Roots
- elegantem Latin “choosing out”
- legō, lēgī, lēctum Latin “to gather, pick out; to read”
Related words
Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app