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original
[ uh-rij-uh-nl ]
/ əˈrɪdʒ ə nl /
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adjective
noun
OTHER WORDS FOR original
QUIZ
ARE YOU A TRUE BLUE CHAMPION OF THESE "BLUE" SYNONYMS?
We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.
Question 1 of 8
Which of the following words describes “sky blue”?
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Origin of original
historical usage of original
English original comes from Anglo-French and Middle French from Old French originel “innate, by birth, by nature.” (The 14th-century term original sin “the innate human tendency to evil” is a translation from the phrase in Old French.) The French forms come from the Latin adjective orīginālis “existing at or marking the beginning,” and in Late Latin meaning “primitive.”
Orīginālis is a derivative of the noun orīgō (inflectional stem orīgin- ) “beginning, first appearance, starting point.” Orīgō is a compound whose main element is the verb orīrī “(of the sun or moon) to rise, get out of bed, begin (an activity), sprout, spring up.” The present participle of orīrī is oriēns (inflectional stem orient- ) “the rising sun, daybreak, the east,” and is the ultimate source of English orient.
The earliest sense of original was “belonging or pertaining to the origin or beginning of something”; the meaning “new, inventive, novel” dates from the mid-18th century.
Orīginālis is a derivative of the noun orīgō (inflectional stem orīgin- ) “beginning, first appearance, starting point.” Orīgō is a compound whose main element is the verb orīrī “(of the sun or moon) to rise, get out of bed, begin (an activity), sprout, spring up.” The present participle of orīrī is oriēns (inflectional stem orient- ) “the rising sun, daybreak, the east,” and is the ultimate source of English orient.
The earliest sense of original was “belonging or pertaining to the origin or beginning of something”; the meaning “new, inventive, novel” dates from the mid-18th century.
OTHER WORDS FROM original
Words nearby original
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021
How to use original in a sentence
British Dictionary definitions for original
original
/ (əˈrɪdʒɪnəl) /
adjective
noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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