Diversion
/dɪˈvɜːr.ʒən/noun
Something that distracts attention from the main subject or a route that turns away from a direct course.
Did you know?Its ancestor in Latin, *divertere*, meant to turn aside or turn away, and that same root also gave English the eerie word *divorce* through the idea of separation.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*wer-
“to turn, bend”
Latin
Latin
vertere
“to turn”
Latin
Latin
divertere
“to turn aside, turn away; to divert”
Old French
OF
diversion
“a turning aside, a diversion; amusement”
Middle English
English
diversion
“a turning aside; later, amusement or distraction”
Modern English
English
diversion
“something that distracts or a change of route”