Disturb

How to spell disturb

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce disturb

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does disturb mean?

1. verbTo interrupt the quiet, rest, or settled state of someone or something.

Disturb in a sentence

• Please try not to disturb the baby while she is sleeping.

• Loud roadworks outside the office disturb my concentration every afternoon.

Where does disturb come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin disturbare, meaning 'to throw into complete disorder', formed from the prefix dis-, used here as an intensifier, and the verb turbare, meaning 'to confuse or stir up'. That verb in turn grew out of the noun turba, which described a crowd, a tumult, or a general commotion, so the underlying image is of a calm scene suddenly thrown into uproar. English took the word in the early 1300s by way of Old French destourber, and at first it carried strong senses of agitation and unrest before settling into the milder modern meanings of interrupting or unsettling. The same turba root still shows through in relatives like 'turbulent' and 'perturb', which keep the idea of churning agitation. Knowing that the heart of the word is turb (not 'terb') helps fix the spelling, since the tricky middle vowel is an unstressed schwa that gives no clue on its own.

How the word is built

• dis- (intensive/apart)
• turb (from Latin turbare: to throw into confusion, from turba: a crowd or commotion)