- Math. irrational
- Phonet. voiceless ()
Origin of surdClassical Latin surdus, deaf, dull, mute: used to translated, translation Classical Greek alogos, irrational, literally , without reason
- Math. an irrational number or quantity; specif., a root which can be expressed only approximately: is a surd
- Phonet. a voiceless sound
- Mathematics An irrational number, such as &sqrt;2.
- Linguistics A voiceless sound in speech.
Voiceless, as a sound.
Origin of surdMedieval Latin surdus, speechless, surd (translation of Arabic (ja&dlowmac;r) ’a&slowdot;amm, deaf (root), surd, translation of Greek alogos, speechless, surd), from Latin.
(comparative more surd, superlative most surd)
Latin surdus (“deaf"); in mathematical sense, "deaf to reason", i.e. irrational.