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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

purview

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster

Arts, Literature, Language Courses, Education

4.31.2K Ratings

🗓️ 22 December 2023

⏱️ 2 minutes

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Summary

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 22, 2023 is:

purview • \PER-vyoo\  • noun

Purview refers to an area within which someone or something has authority, influence, or knowledge. It can also refer to a range of vision, understanding, or awareness.

// I’ll do my best to answer your questions, but please note that my field is linguistics, and topics relating to economics are beyond my purview.

See the entry >

Examples:

"The Springdale Public Library comes under the purview of the Washington County Library System." — Laurinda Joenks, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 18 July 2023

Did you know?

It may not be illogical to assume a connection between purview and view, but is there one? Not exactly. Although the two words share a syllable, you’ll find that they have very different histories as viewed in the etymological rearview mirror. Purview comes from purveu, a word often found in the legal statutes of 13th- and 14th-century England. These statutes, written in Anglo-French, regularly open with the phrase purveu est, which translates literally to "it is provided." Purveu in turn comes from porveu, the past participle of the Old French verb porveeir, meaning "to provide." View, on the other hand, comes (via Middle English) from the past participle of another Anglo-French word, veer, meaning "to see," and ultimately from the Latin word vidēre, of the same meaning.



Transcript

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0:00.0

It's Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 22nd.

0:10.0

Today's word is purview, spelled as one wordvial w perview is a noun it refers to an

0:18.6

area within which someone or something has authority, influence, or knowledge.

0:24.0

It can also refer to a range of vision understanding or awareness.

0:28.8

Here's the word used in a sentence from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

0:33.0

The Springdale Public Library comes under the purview of the Washington County Library System.

0:39.0

It may not be illogical to assume a connection between the words per view and view, but is there one?

0:47.0

Well, not exactly. Although the two words share a syllable, you'll find that they have very different histories as viewed in the

0:54.8

etymology-rearview mirror. Perview comes from pure ve a word often found in the

1:01.3

legal statutes of 13th and 14th century England.

1:05.0

These statutes, written in Anglo-French, regularly open with the phrase

1:10.0

Purveh Est, which translates literally to it is provided.

1:15.0

Puyvhe in turn comes from Puyvhe, the past particable of the old French verb

1:20.7

porveille meaning to provide.

1:24.0

View on the other hand comes via middle English from the past participle of another

1:28.8

Anglo-French word veer meaning to see and ultimately from the Latin word Videray of the same meaning with

1:37.0

your word of the day on Peter Sokoloski.

1:42.4

Visit Marion Webster.

1:43.7

Webster.com today for definitions, word play, and trending word lookups.

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