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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

surd.

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

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/sɜːd/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/sɝd/US/sʌɹd/Scotland/søːd/New-Zealand
  1. An irrational number, especially one expressed using the √ symbol.

  2. A voiceless consonant.

Where this word comes from

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.

adj/sɜːd/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/sɝd/US/sʌɹd/Scotland/søːd/New-Zealand
  1. Lacking the sense of hearing; deaf.

    obsolete
  2. unheard

    obsolete
  3. Involving surds, or irrational numbers; not capable of being expressed in rational numbers.

    a surd expression or quantity; a surd number
  4. unvoiced; voiceless

Where this word comes from

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.

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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.