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schedule

SKEJ-ool · noun

Ancient GreekLatinOld FrenchMiddle FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

Origin

Schedule comes from Middle English cedule, borrowed through Middle French and Old French from Late Latin schedula, meaning 'papyrus strip'—a diminutive of Latin scheda, itself from Ancient Greek σχέδη (skhédē, 'papyrus leaf'), tracing back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'to divide, split.'

Journey

The word was historically pronounced /ˈsɛdjuːl/ or /ˈsɛdʒuːl/; the now-familiar /ʃ/ and /sk/ sounds crept in later, shaped by the spelling itself rather than by sound, possibly reinforced by scholarly influence.

Related words

Schedule is a doublet of cedula and cedule, both descending from the same Late Latin schedula—and its shift in pronunciation is compared, in the source material, to the word schism.

More words

From Middle French

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