sort

B1 Topic:People & Society

Also spelled soart and sorte

US /soɹt/ UK /sɔːt/ See IPA manual

Freq #552

Meanings

1

noun
A type or kind of thing or person.

What sort of music do you like?
2

verb
To arrange things into groups according to type or order.

She sorted the letters into different piles.
3

verb
To deal with or fix a problem successfully.

Don't worry, I'll sort out the dishes.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Multiword verbs with sort

sort out Phrasal verb B1

to resolve a problem or put a confusing situation in order

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a type or kind of thing or... kind type

2 verb · to arrange things into... classify order

3 verb · to deal with or fix a... fix resolve

More character glyph individual person

Word family

Forms sortedsortingsorts

Derived forms alphasortarchaeosortasebesortcubesortimmunosortmergesortmissortpick-and-sortpresortre-sortresortserosort

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

sort out
to resolve a problem or put a confusing situation in order

Verb + adverb

Proverbs (2)

See all

Simplified etymology

Sort ultimately comes from Latin sors, meaning “lot” or “fortune,” a word associated with casting lots and divination. The same Latin source, transmitted through Old French, also lies behind sorcerer.

Etymology

From Middle English sort, soort, sorte (cognate Dutch soort, German Sorte, Danish sort, Swedish sort), borrowed from Old French sorte (“class, kind”), from Latin sortem, accusative form of sors (“lot, fate, share, rank, category”).

*ser- (bind) Proto-Indo-European sort Middle English sorte Old French sortem Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# sort

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /soɹt/
**IPA (UK):** /sɔːt/
**Frequency rank:** 552

## Meanings
1. A type or kind of thing or person.
2. To arrange things into groups according to type or order.
3. To deal with or fix a problem successfully.

## Examples
- What sort of music do you like?
- She sorted the letters into different piles.
- Don't worry, I'll sort out the dishes.

## Synonyms
- character
- glyph
- individual
- person
- type

## Derived Forms
- alphasort
- archaeosortase
- besort
- cubesort
- immunosort
- mergesort
- missort
- pick-and-sort
- presort
- re-sort
- resort
- serosort

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *ser- (bind)
- Root: sort
- Root: sorte
- Root: sortem

## Etymology
From Middle English sort, soort, sorte (cognate Dutch soort, German Sorte, Danish sort, Swedish sort), borrowed from Old French sorte (“class, kind”), from Latin sortem, accusative form of sors (“lot, fate, share, rank, category”).

## AI Etymology
Sort is from Middle English sort, soort, sorte (cognate Dutch soort, German Sorte, Danish sort, Swedish sort), borrowed from Old French sorte (“class, kind”), from Latin sortem, accusative form of sors (“lot, fate, share, rank, category”). Important forms in the word's history include Proto-Indo-European *ser- (bind), Middle English sort, Old French sorte, Latin sortem. In current use it includes senses such as A type or kind of thing or person and To arrange things into groups according to type or order.

## Topics
- People & Society

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