derivation
/ˌdɛrəˈveɪʃən/
noun
- The origin or source of something, especially a word or idea.
- The derivation of the word 'piano' comes from Italian, meaning 'soft'.
- Knowing the derivation of a term can help you understand its meaning.
- Scholars debated the derivation of the ancient myth.
- The process of obtaining something from a source or origin.
- The derivation of the new medicine involved years of research.
- In math class, we learned the derivation of the quadratic formula.
- The derivation of the recipe from traditional methods took many tries.
- In linguistics, the formation of a new word from an existing word, often by adding affixes.
- Students studied derivation to understand how words change form.
- The derivation of 'happiness' from 'happy' is a common example.
- Derivation can change a word's part of speech, like turning 'teach' into 'teacher'.