Scale

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /skeɪl/

Definitions

1. A system of ordered marks or measurements used for comparison, or the relative size of something compared to other things
2. A system for measuring, comparing, or representing size and quantity, which can indicate weight, levels, or degrees of quality among items or systems
3. A method or tool employed for measuring or comparing various attributes such as weight, size, or quality in relation to other items or variables

Etymology: The word "scale" in the sense of a system for measuring comes from Latin "scāla," a word meaning a flight of steps or ladder, usually used in the plural. That Latin noun was built on "scandō," "to climb," the same root behind "scan," "ascend" and "descend." The sense of graded steps gave way to the idea of graded marks, and from there to a series of divisions on which a quantity is read. A second, unrelated "scale" is much older in English. It derives from Old French "escale," with roots in a Germanic word for a shell or bowl, and it gave English the flaky covering of fish and the pan of a balance. The two words arrived by different routes, which is why they look alike but differ in origin. The measuring sense and the balance-pan sense meet in the kitchen scale, where a pan rests on a reading dial. English thus holds one word that came from climbing stairs and another from a bowl, and they now sit side by side in the same dictionary entry.

Synonyms: measure, size, proportion, extent, level

Antonyms: diminution, reduction