Device

How to spell device

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce device

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does device mean?

1. nounAn object or piece of equipment made to perform a particular task.
2. nounA scheme, plan, or clever method used to achieve a particular end.

Device in a sentence

• The engineer tested the small device before shipping it to the factory.

• The lawyer described the contract clause as a device for avoiding tax.

• Every mobile device in the office connects to the same secure network.

• The lawyer described the clause as a clever device for delaying payment.

Where does device come from?

Language of origin: French

This word travelled into English from Old French in the 1200s, where 'devis' and 'devise' meant a plan, an intention, or the way something was arranged. Behind the French lay the Latin verb dividere, 'to divide' or 'to separate out', through its past participle divisus; the early sense was about dividing a matter into a settled scheme. From the idea of a deliberate plan the meaning broadened to a clever arrangement or contrivance, and eventually to a physical object made to do a particular job. English kept two related forms that share this ancestry: the noun 'device' and the verb 'devise', and the spelling split (noun with -ice, verb with -ise) is the classic trap, mirroring pairs like advice and advise. Remembering that the noun device names a thing, just as advice names a thing, helps fix the -ice ending.

How the word is built

• de- (from Latin divisus, divided)
• -vice (split, cleave); via Old French devis 'division, plan'