Dig

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /dɪɡ/

Definitions

1. To excavate or turn over earth with a tool or one's hands, creating a hole or trench in the ground
2. To break up and move soil or material using a tool or hands, often resulting in the formation of a cavity or the alteration of the landscape
3. To remove earth or other materials through a process involving manual effort or tools, typically to uncover or create space in the ground

Etymology: The verb "dig" is a surprisingly late arrival. Its earliest form in English was "dīken," meaning to dig or to make a ditch, and it was borrowed from a noun for a ditch. The modern spelling "dig" appears in the 13th century, when "dīken" gradually gave way to a form with a hard g. Scholars disagree about why the g appeared. One theory is that it was influenced by a related variant, "dikier," while another points to French, where forms with g show up in the 15th century, about two hundred years after the English spelling. French also has matching forms for its noun "digue," meaning dike or embankment, which makes a French origin for the sound change more plausible. The word has a separate line of descent in American English. It comes from African American Vernacular English, but because enslaved people's speech was rarely written down, its exact origin is hard to trace. One suggestion links it to a West African word meaning "to understand" or "to appreciate," though this idea remains unproven.

Synonyms: excavate, burrow, unearth, delve, scoop

Antonyms: fill, cover, ignore, neglect, shun