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differentia

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: différentia

English

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Etymology

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From Latin differentia. Doublet of difference.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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differentia (plural differentiae)

  1. (logic, semantics, taxonomy) A distinguishing feature which marks a species off from other members of the same genus.
    • 1902, William James, “Lecture II: Circumscription of the Topic”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature [] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. [], →OCLC, page 45:
      That character, it seems to me, should be regarded as the practically important differentia of religion for our purpose; and just what it is can easily be brought out by comparing the mind of an abstractly conceived Christian with that of a moralist similarly conceived.
    • 1928, E. M. Edghill, Categories, translation of original by Aristotle:
      If genera are different and co-ordinate, their differentiae are themselves different in kind. Take as an instance the genus ‘animal’ and the genus ‘knowledge’. ‘With feet’, ‘two-footed’, ‘winged’, ‘aquatic’, are differentiae of ‘animal’; the species of knowledge are not distinguished by the same differentiae.
    • 2017, Kory Stamper, Word By Word, Vintage, published 2018, page 116:
      In the case of a word like “surfboard,” the differentiae seem pretty clear. How is this board different from all other boards?

See also

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Interlingua

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Noun

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differentia (plural differentias)

  1. difference

Latin

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Etymology

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From differens +‎ -ia.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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differentia f (genitive differentiae); first declension

  1. difference
  2. diversity

Declension

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First-declension noun.

singular plural
nominative differentia differentiae
genitive differentiae differentiārum
dative differentiae differentiīs
accusative differentiam differentiās
ablative differentiā differentiīs
vocative differentia differentiae

Descendants

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Participle

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differentia

  1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter plural of differēns

References

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  • differentia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • differentia”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • "differentia", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • differentia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.