history

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Contents

English [edit]

Wikipedia has articles on:

Wikipedia

Alternative forms [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

  • enPR: hĭstōrē, hĭstrē, IPA: /ˈhɪstəri/, /ˈhɪstri/, X-SAMPA: /"hIst@ri/, /"hIstri/
  • (file)
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: hist‧o‧ry

Etymology [edit]

From Middle English, from Latin historia, from Ancient Greek ἱστορία (historia, learning through research, narration of what is learned), from ἱστορέω (historeō, to learn through research, to inquire), from ἵστωρ (histōr, the one who knows, the expert), from *ϝίδτωρ, from Proto-Indo-European *wid- (wit, knowledge).

Attested in Middle English in 1393 by John Gower, Confessio Amantis,[1] which was aimed at an educated audience familiar with French and Latin.

Noun [edit]

Wikipedia has an article on:

Wikipedia history (plural histories)

  1. The aggregate of past events.
    • 2012 March-April, Jan Sapp, “Race Finished”, American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 164: 
      Few concepts are as emotionally charged as that of race. The word conjures up a mixture of associations—culture, ethnicity, genetics, subjugation, exclusion and persecution. But is the tragic history of efforts to define groups of people by race really a matter of the misuse of science, the abuse of a valid biological concept?
    History repeats itself if we don’t learn from its mistakes.
    Holes in your pant pockets turn your coins into history.
  2. The branch of knowledge that studies the past; the assessment of notable events.
    He teaches history at the university.
    History will not look kindly on these tyrants.
    He dreams of an invention that will make history.
  3. A set of events involving an entity.
    What is your medical history.
    The family's history includes events best forgotten.
  4. A record or narrative description of past events.
  5. (medicine)   The list of past and continuing medical conditions of an individual or family.
    A personal medical history is required for the insurance policy.
    He has a history of cancer in his family.
  6. (computing)   A record of previous user events; specifically, a browser history, a history of visited Web pages.
    I visited a great site yesterday but forgot the URL; oh! ... luckily I didn't clear my history.
  7. (informal)   Something that no longer exists or is no longer relevant.
    I told him that if he doesn't get his act together, he's history.

Synonyms [edit]

  • (aggregate of past events): past
  • (record or narrative description of past events): account, chronicle, story, tale
  • (medicine: list of past and continuing medical conditions): medical history
  • (computing: record of previous user events): log

Derived terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Verb [edit]

history (third-person singular simple present histories, present participle historying, simple past and past participle historied)

  1. (obsolete) To narrate or record.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

Statistics [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ OED