append
UK[əˈpɛnd]US[əˈpɛnd]
v
To add something to the end of a piece of writing or a data structure.
Morpheme Breakdown
ap
pend
ap
to, towards
pend
to hang
Etymology
The word 'append' originates from the Latin verb 'appendere', a compound of 'ad-' (meaning "to") and 'pendere' (meaning "to hang"). The literal sense was "to hang something onto" or "to attach by hanging." This concrete action evolved logically into the modern abstract meaning of adding supplementary material to the end of a document or list, as if hanging it onto the main body. The semantic journey reflects a shift from a physical act of attachment to a formal, procedural act of addition in writing and computing.
Analysis
Structure: ap (to, towards) + pend (to hang)
- ap: A prefix of Latin origin (from 'ad-'), meaning "to, towards, near." It assimilates to 'ap-' before 'p'.
- pend: A root of Latin origin (from 'pendere'), meaning "to hang, to cause to hang, to weigh."
Examples
Please append your signature to the bottom of the document.
The programmer wrote a function to append new data to the existing file.
The author decided to append a brief epilogue to the final chapter.