Markings

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Visible patterns, symbols, or designs applied to an object for identification or decoration ; signs or indicators that provide information about a condition or status
2. Distinctive designs or characters made on surfaces to distinguish or ornament something ; visual cues that reveal details, status, or qualities of an item or situation
3. Features such as lines, spots, or symbols that identify or embellish a subject ; marks that serve to communicate information or evidence about condition or classification

Etymology: "Markings" is the plural of "marking," which in Middle English appeared as "marking," "merking," or "merkunge," from Old English "mearcung." That Old English form was built from "mearc," the root of modern "mark," plus the suffix "-ing," which in this period formed nouns naming an action or its result. So the word began as the act of making a mark, and only later came to mean the marks themselves. The older root carried a sense of boundary. Old English "mearc" meant a border or limit, and the same stem gave the word "mearc" for a boundary line, which is why an early mark was often a sign set on the edge of land. The sense of a visible sign on a surface grew out of that idea of a limiting line, so today's plural names the patterns, spots, and stripes that distinguish an animal, a bird, or a manufactured object.

Synonyms: indications, signs, symbols, inscriptions, notations