Etymology
1. 1548, from L.
designare "mark out, devise," from
de- "out" +
signare "to mark," from
signum "a mark, sign." Originally in Eng. with the meaning now attached to
designate (1646, from L.
designatus, pp. of
designare); many modern uses of
design are metaphoric extensions.
Designer (adj.) in the fashion sense of "prestigious" is first recorded 1966;
designer drug is from 1983.
Designing "scheming" is from 1671.
Designated hitter introduced in American League baseball in 1973, soon giving wide figurative extension to
designated.
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Indo-European *de
4. Proto-Indo-European *-h₁
5. Proto-Indo-European *déh₁
6. Proto-Italic *dē
7. Latin dē
8. Latin dē-
9. Proto-Indo-European *sek-?
10. Proto-Indo-European *-nóm
11. Proto-Italic *segnom
12. Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
13. Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂
14. Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
15. Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti
16. Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.
17. Proto-Italic *-ājō
18. Proto-Italic *-āō
19. Proto-Italic *segnāō
20. Latin signō
21. Latin designōder.
22. Old French designerder.
23. Middle English designen
24. English design
25. From Middle English designen, from Old French designer, from Latin designō (“to mark out, point out, describe, design, contrive”), from de- (or dis-) + signō (“to mark”), from signum (“mark”). Doublet of designate. See: Latin '
designō'.
Verbs referencing "design"
Swedish
designa, Thai
ดีไซน์.