Subject

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ˈsʌb.d͡ʒɛkt/

Definitions

1. The main topic being talked about or examined ; a particular field of knowledge or study in school or research ; a person or thing that is affected by an action or process
2. The matter being considered or discussed ; a branch of learning or academic discipline ; someone or something that receives an action or is experimented on
3. A theme or focus of conversation or analysis ; a category of education or research ; an individual or object that is acted upon or observed in an experiment

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "subject" is how literally its Latin ancestor describes a position: "subiectus" meant "thrown under" or "placed beneath," from "sub" ("under") and "iacere" ("to throw"). Something that lay under or near something else was, in this sense, subject to it, and the word carried that idea of being placed under authority or control into English. Its path into English ran through Old French "suget," which gave Middle English "subget." The Latin noun "subiectum" was used in logic for the thing a proposition is about, and philosophers borrowed the Latin word for the underlying thing in a statement. That logical sense, the matter under discussion, is the root of the modern meaning "topic of discussion." Note that this is a calque: Greek "hupokeimenon," "that which lies beneath," was the model for the Latin term, so the same literal image of something lying under appears in both languages.

Synonyms: topic, theme, matter, issue, field

Antonyms: object, predicate