merit
English
/ˈmɛɹɪt/, /ˈmɛɹɪt/
noun
Definitions
- (countable) A claim to commendation or a reward.
- (countable) A mark or token of approbation or to recognize excellence.
- (countable) Something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward.
- (uncountable) The sum of all the good deeds that a person does which determines the quality of the person's next state of existence and contributes to the person's growth towards enlightenment.
- (uncountable) Usually in the plural form the merits: the substantive rightness or wrongness of a legal argument, a lawsuit, etc., as opposed to technical matters such as the admissibility of evidence or points of legal procedure; (by extension) the overall good or bad quality, or rightness or wrongness, of some other thing.
- (countable) The quality or state of deserving retribution, whether reward or punishment.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English merit derived from merit derived from Old French merite (moral worth, merit, reward) derived from Latin meritum (deserts, merit, value, importance, grounds, blame, fault, kindness, reason, service, benefit, reward, that which one deserves, demerit, worth) derived from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (remember, allot, assign, be mindful, care for, think, fall into thinking, take careful thought of) derived from Middle French meriter derived from Old French meriter (deserve, merit) root from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (remember, allot, assign, be mindful, care for, think, fall into thinking, take careful thought of).
Origin
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)mer-
Gloss
remember, allot, assign, be mindful, care for, think, fall into thinking, take careful thought of
Concept
Semantic Field
Cognition
Ontological Category
Action/Process
Kanji
思, 考
Emoji
Timeline
Distribution of cognates by language
Geogrpahic distribution of cognates
Cognates and derived terms
- -mer English
- -mere English
- antimeritocracy English
- demur English
- epimeron English
- immerit English
- memorandum English
- mereology English
- meristics English
- meritable English
- meriter English
- meritest English
- meriteth English
- meritious English
- meritless English
- meritlessly English
- meritlessness English
- meritmonger English
- meritocracy English
- meritocrat English
- meritory English
- meronym English
- meronymy English
- meropic English
- monger English
- moratory English
- overmerit English
- premerit English
- unmeritable English
- mereologia Finnish
- commoror Latin
- demoror Latin
- immoror Latin
- memorabilis Latin
- memoria Latin
- memoro Latin
- memorābilia Latin
- mereo Latin
- meritum Latin
- meritāre Latin
- mora Latin
- moror Latin
- rememoror Latin
- remoror Latin
- Centromer German
- benemeritare Italian
- benmeritare Italian
- meritare Italian
- meritevole Italian
- rimeritare Italian
- mériter French
- centrómero Spanish, Castilian
- meritar Spanish, Castilian
- mérito Spanish, Castilian
- μάρτυς Ancient Greek
- μέριμνα Ancient Greek
- μέρος Ancient Greek
- μείρομαι Ancient Greek
- μοῖρα Ancient Greek
- μόρα Ancient Greek
- μόριον Ancient Greek
- μόρος Ancient Greek
- τέλος Ancient Greek
- τρία Ancient Greek
- ἑπταμερής Ancient Greek
- ὅμοιος Ancient Greek
- *(s)mer- Proto-Indo-European
- *mer- Proto-Indo-European
- *mere Proto-Indo-European
- *merh₂- Proto-Indo-European
- polymer Norwegian Bokmål
- *mimraz Proto-Germanic
- *mīmrōną Proto-Germanic
- メリット Japanese
- meritum Polish
- polymer Norwegian Nynorsk
- विस्मरति Sanskrit
- स्मरण Sanskrit
- स्मारक Sanskrit
- स्मृ Sanskrit
- स्मृति Sanskrit
- merit Middle English
- -méir Irish
- merite Old French
- meriter Old French
- mèrit Catalan, Valencian
- merita Romanian, Moldavian, Moldovan
- شمردن Persian
- μέρος Greek (modern)
- Merit Cebuano
- -мер Bulgarian
- meriter Middle French
- *mori Proto-Celtic
- *smarás Proto-Indo-Iranian
- *smárati Proto-Indo-Iranian
- marenda Romansh
- mert Friulian
- mertâ Friulian
- meritar Venetian
- merit xno
- merit Ladin