Displayed

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /dɪsˈpleɪd/

Definitions

1. To put or present something in a position where it can be seen by others
2. The action of presenting or making an object or information visible or accessible for observation
3. To arrange or exhibit items so that they are visible for examination or enjoyment

Etymology: "Displayed" is the past tense and past participle of "display," so the real story belongs to the root verb. Its core idea is literal: to unfold something so it can be seen. The Latin "plicare" meant "to fold," and "dis-" added the sense of "apart," so the original picture is of cloth or a document being opened out and spread wide. That Latin idea passed into Medieval Latin as "displicare," meaning "to unfold, display," and then into Old French as "despleier" and "desploiier." Middle English took it up as "displayen," which shows the word was already moving in the direction of spreading out for view rather than folding up. Displayed is the same word as "deploy," which was borrowed from the same French source. The two entered English along different routes, so they split into a pair of doublets with different shapes and meanings: "display" stayed closest to showing something to the eye, while "deploy" came to mean arranging troops or resources for use.

Synonyms: showed, exhibited, revealed