Shape

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ʃeɪp/

Definitions

1. The external form or outline of an object, or to mold something into a particular form
2. The physical configuration of an object or entity can refer to both the visible characteristics and the process of altering it into a desired form
3. An object's outline or contour is related to its design and the act of adapting or defining that form as needed

Etymology: Before "shape" meant the outline of a thing, Old English "ġesceap" covered a wider range: form, created being, fate, condition, even sex or gender. The word traces back to Proto-Germanic "skapą," meaning "shape, nature, condition," which may connect to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to split, cut," suggesting that a shape was originally something carved or cut out of a material. The noun's meanings stayed close to "nature" and "condition" in several Germanic languages, where it still turns up in Icelandic "skap" for a person's mood or temper. The verb grew out of the noun. Old English "scieppan" meant "to shape, form, make, create," but it also carried the sense of destining or ordering things, so making something and deciding its fate were once closely linked. Dutch "scheppen," German "schaffen," and Swedish "skapa," all meaning "create" or "make," are its cousins. "Shape" and "-ship," as in "friendship," are doublets: two words descended from the same ancestor that took different paths into English. The "-ship" suffix kept the sense of condition or state, while "shape" settled on physical form.

Synonyms: form, figure, contour, outline, configuration

Antonyms: disfigure, deform