Assortment

How to spell assortment

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce assortment

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does assortment mean?

1. nounA varied collection of different items or types grouped together.

Assortment in a sentence

• The bakery sells a generous assortment of pastries each morning.

• The gift box held a colourful assortment of chocolates and sweets.

Where does assortment come from?

Language of origin: French

This word arrived in English through French, where 'assortiment' meant a collection of things grouped together by kind. It rests on the French verb 'assortir', 'to sort into matching groups', which combined the prefix 'a-' (from Latin 'ad-', meaning 'to' or 'towards') with 'sorte', 'a kind or sort'. That noun 'sorte' traces back to the Latin 'sors', literally 'a lot' as in a token drawn by chance, which then broadened to mean 'a share', 'a fate', and eventually 'a category or kind'. English picked up the verb 'assort' in the late 1400s and the noun 'assortment' followed in the 1600s, first describing the act of arranging goods by type and later the varied collection itself. The doubled 's' is the spelling trap, and it makes sense once you see the buried prefix 'as-' sitting in front of the root 'sort'.

How the word is built

• as- (variant of ad-, meaning 'to')
• sort (kind, type)
• -ment (noun-forming suffix)