Displayed
verbShowed or presented something openly so it could be seen.
How to spell displayed
9 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce displayed
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does displayed mean?
- verbShowed or presented something openly so it could be seen.
- adjectiveShown or exhibited openly to view.
Displayed in a sentence
-
verb
The museum displayed the ancient coins in a glass case.
-
adjective
The prominently displayed price tag made the bargain obvious.
-
verb
The website displayed an error before the page loaded.
-
adjective
The proudly displayed trophy stood at the centre of the shelf.
Where does displayed come from?
Language of origin: French
This is the past tense of 'display', which entered English in the 1300s from the Old French 'despleier', meaning 'to unfold' or 'to spread out'. That French verb came from the Latin 'displicare', built from 'dis-', meaning 'apart', and 'plicare', meaning 'to fold'; so the literal sense was to unfold something that had been folded up, such as a banner or a sail. The same 'plicare' root quietly survives in many English words about folding, including 'pliable', 'apply', and 'complicated'. Over time the idea of unfolding a banner widened into the modern meaning of showing or exhibiting something openly. The hidden link between 'display' and the word 'play' is purely coincidental, which is one reason the spelling can trip people up.
How the word is built
- dis- (apart)
- play (from plicare: to fold/unfold)
- -ed (past tense)
Fix your spelling for good.
Spelling Garden finds the words you personally get wrong, plants them in a garden, and brings each one back just before you would have forgotten it.
Just five minutes a day is all it takes to fix your spelling.