Duration
/dʊəˈreɪ.ʃən/noun
The length of time something continues.
Did you know?The word comes through Latin *durare* meaning “to harden, last,” from *durus*—“hard” or “firm”—so time itself was imagined as something that had to endure like stone.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*deru-
“to be firm, solid, hard”
Latin
Latin
durus
“hard, firm, lasting”
Latin
Latin
durare
“to harden; to last, endure”
Late Latin
Latin
duratio
“a lasting, continuance”
Old French
Old French
duration
“duration, continuance”
Middle English
English
duracioun
“lasting, continuance”
Modern English
English
duration
“the length of time something lasts”