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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

diss.

To put (someone) down, or show disrespect by the use of insulting language or dismissive behaviour.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/dɪs/
  1. To put (someone) down, or show disrespect by the use of insulting language or dismissive behaviour.

    slang
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ ▲ Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu. Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is- Proto-Italic *dis- Latin dis- Old French des-bor. ▲ Latin dis-bor. Middle English dis- English dis- English respect English disrespectclip. English disparageclip. English diss Originated in Jamaican English or African American Vernacular English, probably originally a clipping of disrespect or disparage, both from the prefix dis-, ultimately from Latin dis-.

noun/dɪs/
  1. An insult or put-down; an expression of disrespect.

    slang
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ ▲ Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu. Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is- Proto-Italic *dis- Latin dis- Old French des-bor. ▲ Latin dis-bor. Middle English dis- English dis- English respect English disrespectclip. English disparageclip. English diss Originated in Jamaican English or African American Vernacular English, probably originally a clipping of disrespect or disparage, both from the prefix dis-, ultimately from Latin dis-.

noun/dɪs/
  1. Dissertation.

    slang
Where this word comes from

Clipping of dissertation.

noun/dɪs/
  1. Ampelodesmos mauritanicus syn. Ampelodesmos tenax, a reedy grass used for cordage.

    uncountable
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Arabic دِيس (dīs).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.