surd

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points: 5
Words With Friends: 6
Letters: 4

Pronunciation

/sɜːd/

See all 6 pronunciations

/sɜːd/ · /sɝd/(US) · /sʌɹd/ · /søːd/ · /seːd/ · /sɛːd/

Definition of surd

6 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

An irrational number, especially one expressed using the √ symbol.

See all 6 definitions

noun

An irrational number, especially one expressed using the √ symbol.
A voiceless consonant.

adj

(obsolete)Lacking the sense of hearing; deaf.

“…how all Words fall to the Ground, spent upon such a surd and Earless Generation of Men, stupid unto all Instruction…”
(obsolete)unheard

“To this errour, of blending the ſurd and vocal modes of articulation together, may be added the too frequent uſe of compound articulations both vocal and ſurd.”
Involving surds, or irrational numbers; not capable of being expressed in rational numbers.

“a surd expression or quantity; a surd number”
unvoiced; voiceless

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

First attested in the mid 16th century from Latin surdus (“deaf, mute”), used in mathematics for “irrational,” reflecting ἄλογος (álogos, “irrational, speechless”) as found in Euclid, apparently transmitted via Arabic جِذْر أَصَمّ (jiḏr ʔaṣamm, “deaf root”). The phonetic sense, “voiceless,” emerged in the 18th century. Doublet of surdo.