Identify
/aɪˈdɛn.tɪ.faɪ/noun
To recognize or establish the identity of someone or something.
Did you know?Identify comes from Latin *identitas* (“sameness”), ultimately tied to *idem* (“the same”), so the word began as a way of declaring that two things are one and the same.
Etymological Timeline
Late Latin
Latin
identitās
“sameness; the state of being the same”
Medieval Latin
Latin
identificāre
“to make identical; to establish sameness”
Late 16th Century
English
identify
“to make (something) identical with another; to prove the identity of”
17th–18th Century
English
identify
“to recognize or establish who or what something is”
Modern English
English
identify
“to recognize or name the identity of a person, object, or idea”