DictionaryRoot: dis-
Latin

dis-

apart, away; reversal or negation

Forms

  • dis-
  • di- — Shortened in certain Latin compounds.
  • dif- — Used before f in Latin.

Origin

Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European *dis, ‘apart,’ associated with the idea of ‘two.’

Note

Separating things supplied a route from physical apartness to undoing an action.

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Two men seated across a small table in a serious disagreement: one leans forward with an emphatic open-hand gesture while the other turns slightly away, frowning and raising a hand in objection.
noun

discord

DIS-kord/ˈdɪskɔːrd/

Disagreement or lack of harmony between people.

Etymology

The image is of hearts apart: people divided in feeling or opinion. This underlies discord as disagreement or strife, with musical discord expressing a comparable lack of harmony.

Full entry

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