Discovery

How to spell discovery

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce discovery

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does discovery mean?

1. nounThe act of finding or learning something for the first time, or the thing that is found.
2. nounThe pre-trial process in which each side discloses relevant documents and evidence to the other.

Discovery in a sentence

• The discovery of penicillin changed modern medicine.

• The lawyers requested every email during discovery before the trial.

• Her discovery of the hidden bank account led to a long argument.

• The judge ruled that the firm withheld key files during discovery.

Where does discovery come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin verb cooperire, meaning 'to cover over completely', built from co- (an intensifier) and operire 'to close or cover'. Old French turned this into covrir, and English borrowed it as 'cover'. Adding the prefix dis-, which signals reversal or undoing, produced 'discover', so the literal sense was 'to uncover' or 'to remove the covering from' something hidden. From the 1500s 'discover' broadened from physically uncovering to finding out or revealing what was previously unknown, and the noun 'discovery' followed for the act or result of finding something new. The spelling keeps the single c and the -ery ending; remembering it hides the word 'cover' in the middle helps fix both the spelling and the meaning.

How the word is built

• dis- (reversal/undoing)
• cover (to hide, from Latin cooperire)
• -y (noun suffix)