surd

American  

[surd] / sɜrd /

adjective

1. Phonetics. voiceless (opposed to sonant).

2. Mathematics. (of a quantity) not capable of being expressed in rational numbers; irrational.

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noun

1. Phonetics. a voiceless consonant (opposed to sonant).

2. Mathematics. a surd quantity.

surd British  

/ sɜːd /

noun

1. maths an expression containing one or more irrational roots of numbers, such as 2√3 + 3√2 + 6

2. phonetics a voiceless consonant, such as ( t )

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adjective

1. of or relating to a surd

Etymology

Origin of surd

First recorded in 1545–55, surd is from the Latin word surdus dull-sounding, mute, deaf

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

surd

It offers private, group and corporate surf lessons, as well as an after-school program, surd camps and rentals, according to its website.

From Washington Times ● Aug. 12, 2021

Just the same, two and two always make four," he said to himself; "but in my calculations perhaps I have forgotten the surd.

From The Secret of the Night by Gaston Leroux

S has two sounds, soft, or surd, as in soft and this, and hard, or sonant, as in has and wise.

From Division of Words Rules for the Division of Words at the Ends of Lines, with Remarks on Spelling, Syllabication and Pronunciation by Frederick W. (Frederick William) Hamilton

Adj. numeral, complementary, divisible, aliquot, reciprocal, prime, relatively prime, fractional, decimal, figurate†, incommensurable. proportional, exponential, logarithmic, logometric†, differential, fluxional†, integral, totitive†. positive, negative; rational, irrational; surd, radical, real; complex, imaginary; finite; infinite; impossible.

From Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases by Peter Mark Roget

The problems have a surd or irrational element in them; and to solve them would be to bring reason into collision with itself.

From Browning as a Philosophical and Religious Teacher by Sir Henry Jones

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