Trace

How to spell trace

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce trace

What does trace mean?

1. verbTo find or discover something by following evidence or working backwards through information.
2. verbTo copy a drawing or pattern by following its lines on transparent paper laid over it.
3. nounA very small quantity of something, barely detectable.
4. nounA mark, sign, or remnant showing that something existed or passed by.

Trace in a sentence

• verb

  The bank could not trace the missing payment in its records.

• verb

  The children used thin paper to trace the outline of the map.

• noun

  The test found only a trace of lead in the water sample.

• noun

  The burglar vanished without leaving a single trace.

• verb

  Detectives worked for months to trace the stolen paintings.

• verb

  He learned to trace the design before painting it freehand.

Where does trace come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin verb trahere, meaning 'to drag, pull, or draw along', whose past participle tractus literally meant 'a drawing out' or 'a pulling'. From that root Old French formed tracier, 'to make one's way' or 'to follow a path', along with the noun trace for the track or mark something left as it passed. English borrowed both into the 1300s, first as a noun for a footprint or path and then as a verb for following such marks. The same trahere root quietly powers a whole family of English words, including 'tractor', 'attract', 'extract', and 'subtract', all of which involve some kind of pulling or dragging. The modern senses, from following a clue to copying a drawing by following its lines, all preserve that original idea of drawing something out along a line.

How the word is built

• trace (from Latin tractus 'a drawing, dragging', via Old French)