Assortiment

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A varied selection of different items assembled to offer options
2. An array of items that showcases diversity and provides choices within a specific category
3. A diverse grouping of products or elements collected to provide multiple options

Etymology: The English noun "assortiment" is a direct borrowing from French, where it has the same sense of a mixed selection of goods. The French word is built from "assortir", meaning to sort or match things together, which itself grows out of "sortir", to go out or to come out, and the Old French prefix "a-" that attaches a sense of bringing things into a set. In other words, the core idea is one of drawing separate items out and arranging them into a matching group. The ending "-iment" is a familiar French noun-forming suffix, and it traces back through Old French and Middle French to Latin "-mentum", which marked the result or means of an action. So a product of sorting has the same structure as many other French nouns formed from verbs, such as "ornement" from "orner".

Synonyms: selection, variety, array