Signs

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /saɪnz/

Definitions

1. Symbols that express information or communicate messages
2. Gestures or indicators that denote an idea or meaning
3. Marks or tokens that convey meaning or represent something, often used to signify an intent or readiness

Etymology: "Signs" is simply the plural of "sign", so the story is that of the singular noun. The word reached English through two routes at once: Old English "seġn" and Old French "signe" and "seing", all descended from Latin "signum", meaning a mark, sign or token. English is thus a doublet pairing, with "signal" and "signum" sharing the same origin. The Old English form was itself partly displaced by "token", which is why the native word now survives less widely than its French-derived counterpart. Meanwhile the verb "sign" came into English from two sources: the Old English "seġnian" and the Old French "signer", which in turn came from Latin "signāre", meaning to mark, seal or indicate.

Synonyms: indications, signals, clues, marks, symbols

Antonyms: silence, secrecy