rhizoverbBeta
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.

71 / 164
A card player secretly slips an extra playing card from her sleeve into her hand while her opponent looks at his own cards, visibly cheating rather than playing fairly.
adjective

dishonest

dis-AH-nist/dɪsˈɑːnɪst/

Not truthful or trustworthy.

Etymology
disLatinapart, away; reversal or negation
+honestLatinhonorable, respectable

A possible Medieval Latin or Gallo-Roman compound of “not” and “honorable” underlies the word. The idea of lacking honor included unfairness and willingness to deceive, the sense retained here.

Full entry

Related word entries