surd
[surd]
- Phonetics. voiceless (opposed to sonant).
- Mathematics. (of a quantity) not capable of being expressed in rational numbers; irrational.
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- Phonetics. a voiceless consonant (opposed to sonant).
- Mathematics. a surd quantity.
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Origin of surd
First recorded in 1545–55, surd is from the Latin word surdus dull-sounding, mute, deaf
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for surd
Historical Examples
Of course this gives a number, but this number may be a surd, like √2.
The Teaching of GeometryDavid Eugene Smith
For 'voiceless,' 'surd,' 'hard,' or 'tenuis' are sometimes used.
New Latin GrammarCharles E. Bennett
On the one hand Aristotle by his doctrine of matter admitted a surd into his system.
The rule of surd to surd and sonant to sonant is neglected in most of the factitious specimens of broken English.
Pennsylvania DutchS. S. Haldeman
The Sanskrit terms sonant and surd are, in a scientific point of view, the least exceptionable.
The English LanguageRobert Gordon Latham
surd
- maths an expression containing one or more irrational roots of numbers, such as 2√3 + 3√2 + 6
- phonetics a voiceless consonant, such as (t)
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- of or relating to a surd
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Word Origin
C16: from Latin surdus muffled
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for surd
adj.
1550s, "irrational" (of numbers), from Latin surdus "unheard, silent, dull," possibly related to susurrus "a muttering, whispering" (see susurration). The mathematical sense is from the use of Latin surdus to translate Arabic (jadhr) asamm "deaf (root)," itself a loan-translation of Greek alogos, literally "speechless, without reason" (Euclid book x, Def.). In French, sourd remains the principal word for "deaf."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper