Semblaunce

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The outward look or appearance of something, especially one that suggests a quality it may not truly possess
2. An archaic spelling for the way a person or thing looks, a visible likeness or resemblance to something else
3. The surface aspect or outward show of a thing, often a superficial impression that may differ from its reality

Etymology: Middle English writers spelled this word "semblaunce," and the spelling still looks odd to modern eyes because the "-aunce" ending was the medieval Anglo-Norman way of writing the sound we now render as "-ance." The word's real story runs through the verb "sembler," which in Old French meant "to appear" or "to resemble." Its present participle, "semblant," gave Anglo-Norman and Old French the noun "semblance," meaning appearance or likeness, and English borrowed the noun in that form. The verb reaches back to Latin "similare," a variant of "simulare," meaning to imitate or pretend, which itself grew from "similis," "like" or "similar." So the word's ancestry is about making something look like something else, and it was that sense of outward appearance that English inherited. Medieval English used the noun for a wide range of looks and manners, including facial expression, conduct, and even analogy or comparison. Modern English has narrowed the word mostly to the idea of a surface resemblance without the substance behind it, as in "a semblance of order." The older spelling survives only as a historical curiosity.