Schedule

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ˈʃɛd͡ʒuːl/

Definitions

1. A document that lists planned events along with their respective times or dates
2. A timetable outlining when specific activities or events are to take place
3. An organized list detailing the timing of intended tasks or appointments

Etymology: The most surprising twist is that "schedule" once sounded nothing like it does now. For centuries English speakers said it as "SED-yool" or "SED-jool," and the modern "SHED-jool" and "sk" spelling came later, partly through spelling influence and perhaps learned reinforcement, much as in "schism." The ancestry runs back to Ancient Greek "skhedē," meaning a sheet or leaf of papyrus, a material that was written on and cut into pieces. Romans borrowed it as "scheda," and Late Latin made a diminutive, "schedula," meaning a small strip of papyrus, which became a slip of writing or a note. Old French turned this into "cedule," a document or written notice, and Middle English took it as "cedule" in the same sense. The meaning of a list or document gradually narrowed toward a list of times and events, so a schedule became a written plan of when things should happen. Its close cousin "cedula" entered English as a doublet, a word of the same origin that arrived by a different route.

Synonyms: timetable, agenda, plan, program

Antonyms: disorganization