Absurd

How to spell absurd

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce absurd

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does absurd mean?

1. adjectiveWildly unreasonable, illogical, or ridiculous; so contrary to common sense as to be laughable.

Absurd in a sentence

• The price they quoted for a basic repair was completely absurd.

• It seemed absurd to drive two hours for a five-minute meeting.

Where does absurd come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin absurdus, which literally meant 'out of tune' or 'harsh-sounding', and by extension 'foolish' or 'irrational'. It was built from the intensifying prefix ab- joined to surdus, meaning 'deaf', 'dull', or 'mute', so the original picture was of something jarring to the ear, a noise that simply did not fit. That musical idea of discord drifted naturally into the sense of an idea or situation that does not make sense. English borrowed it in the mid-1500s, partly through the French absurde, partly straight from the Latin. The same surdus root survives quietly in mathematics, where a 'surd' is an irrational root such as the square root of two, a neat reminder that the spelling ends in a plain -urd rather than the -erd the pronunciation might tempt you to write.

How the word is built

• ab- (intensive: away, off)
• surd (from Latin surdus: deaf, dull, harsh-sounding)