Discrepancies

How to spell discrepancies

13 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce discrepancies

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does discrepancies mean?

1. nounDifferences or inconsistencies between two or more things that are expected to agree or match.

Discrepancies in a sentence

• The auditor flagged several discrepancies between the invoices and the bank statements.

• Small discrepancies in the witness accounts made the detective suspicious.

Where does discrepancies come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb discrepare, which literally meant 'to sound differently' or 'to be out of tune', built from dis- meaning 'apart' and crepare meaning 'to rattle, creak, or make a noise'. The vivid original image was of two instruments or voices that failed to harmonise, so the sense quickly broadened to anything that simply did not agree or match. English took the adjective 'discrepant' and the noun 'discrepancy' in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, drawing on this Latin family. The plural 'discrepancies' covers any collection of differences or inconsistencies, especially between figures, records, or accounts that ought to tally. Remembering the buried Latin crep, 'to sound', explains the single c and the p in the middle, which is exactly the stretch where writers hesitate; the ending follows the regular pattern of -cy becoming -cies in the plural.

How the word is built

• dis- (apart, in different directions)
• crep (from Latin crepare: to rattle, creak, or sound)
• -ancy (noun of state)
• -es (plural)