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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Child runs past a clear no-running pictogram at poolside while adult points to the rule, no fall/injury or splashes; refusal to follow instruction clear, sparse deck only.
noun

disobedience

dis-uh-BEE-dee-uns/ˌdɪsəˈbiːdiəns/

Failure or refusal to obey rules, orders, or authority.

Etymology

Dis- negates obedience, whose Latin base comes from a verb meaning both “listen to” and “obey.” The connection is listening as heeding: disobedience is failure or refusal to act on an order, not simply failure to hear it.

Full entry

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