Discern

How to spell discern

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce discern

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does discern mean?

1. verbTo perceive, recognise, or distinguish something, especially something not immediately obvious.

Discern in a sentence

• In the thick fog it was hard to discern the edge of the road.

• Experienced auditors can discern small inconsistencies in the accounts.

Where does discern come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb discernere, which meant 'to separate, to set apart, and so to distinguish one thing from another'. It was built from the prefix dis-, meaning 'apart', and the verb cernere, meaning 'to sift, separate, or perceive'; the literal image is of sifting things so that the differences become clear. English took it in the late 1300s by way of Old French discerner, and from the start it carried the sense of perceiving a distinction with the eye or the mind. The same cernere root quietly survives in relatives such as 'certain', 'concern', and 'secret', all of which involve setting something apart. For the speller, the key trap is that ending: it is spelled c-e-r-n, sifting things 'apart', not the unrelated 'earn' of wages.

How the word is built

• dis- (apart)
• cern (from Latin cernere: to separate, sift, perceive)