Target

How to spell target

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce target

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does target mean?

1. nounAn object, person, place, or goal that someone aims at or tries to achieve.
2. verbTo direct effort, attention, or action at a particular person, group, or aim.

Target in a sentence

• noun

  The sales team set a monthly target of fifty new accounts.

• verb

  The campaign will target commuters with adverts at train stations.

• noun

  The archer hit the centre of the target on her first attempt.

• verb

  Investigators chose to target the firms with the largest unpaid taxes.

Where does target come from?

Language of origin: French

The word arrived in English in the 1300s from the Old French targette, a diminutive of targe, which meant a small, light shield carried in battle. That French word itself traces back to a Germanic source: Old English had targe and Old Norse had targa, both naming a round or oval shield. Because a shield is a flat, rounded surface, the word gradually shifted from 'small shield' to 'a round mark set up to be shot at' by the time of archery practice in the 1700s. From that bullseye sense came the modern meanings of a goal to be aimed at and, as a verb, the act of directing effort at something. The buried -get ending, where the unstressed second syllable sounds like a quick 'git', is the only mild trap in an otherwise phonetic word.

How the word is built

• targ- (from Old French targe: a light shield)
• -et (diminutive suffix)