disperse
Meaning
To go or cause to go in different directions; to scatter.
To distribute or spread over a wide area.
Structure
Usage
The police used water cannons to disperse the crowd.
Seeds are dispersed by the wind over great distances.
The fog began to disperse as the sun grew stronger.
Etymology
The word 'disperse' originates from the Latin verb 'dispergere', which is a compound of the prefix 'dis-' (apart) and 'spargere' (to scatter, sprinkle). The Latin root 'spargere' itself can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root (s)pregh-, meaning 'to scatter, to jerk'. The literal sense of 'scattering apart' has been retained throughout its journey into Middle English via Old French 'disperser'. The modern abstract meaning extends this core idea of separation to contexts such as the breaking up of crowds, the distribution of particles, or the dissemination of information.
Analysis
di- (Latin prefix, variant of 'dis-', meaning 'apart' or 'in different directions'); sperse (from Latin 'sparsus', the past participle of 'spargere', meaning 'to scatter').