Where does “detail” come from?
Detail comes from French détail, which derives from Latin dis- ("apart") and ex, ultimately meaning to describe something in separate parts.
detail (English): Something small enough to escape casual notice; A...
Definitions
- Something small enough to escape casual notice; A...
Ancestry of “detail”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | détail | detail |
| 2 | French | détailler | to detail; to retail |
| 3 | Old French | detailler | — |
| 4 | Old French | dé- | — |
| 5 | Latin | dē- | of; from |
| 6 | Latin | dē | of; concerning; about |
| 7 | Latin | post | behind; after, since, besides, except; behind,... |
| 8 | Latin | poste | ablative singular of postis |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | posti | behind, after |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | pósti | after |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | pós | afterwards, post; by, at |