stratum

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ˈstreɪtəm/ UK /ˈstrɑːtəm/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
a layer of material, especially rock, or a level of society

Each stratum of sediment revealed a different geological age.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a layer of material,... layer tier level seam bed class

Word family

Derived forms stratastratal

Related forms stratify stratification stratosphere substratum

Etymology

From Latin stratum ('something spread or laid down'), the neuter past participle of sternere ('to spread, strew, lay flat'), from Proto-Indo-European *sterh3- ('to spread, extend').

stratum Latin sternere Latin *sterh3- Proto-Indo-European

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Topics

People & Society

# stratum

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˈstreɪtəm
**IPA (UK):** ˈstrɑːtəm

## Meanings
1. a layer of material, especially rock, or a level of society

## Examples
- Each stratum of sediment revealed a different geological age.

## Synonyms
- layer
- tier
- level
- seam
- bed
- class

## Derived Forms
- strata
- stratal

## Related Forms
- stratify
- stratification
- stratosphere
- substratum

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: stratum
- Root: sternere
- Root: *sterh3-

## Etymology
From Latin stratum ('something spread or laid down'), the neuter past participle of sternere ('to spread, strew, lay flat'), from Proto-Indo-European *sterh3- ('to spread, extend').

## AI Etymology
Stratum comes from Latin stratum ('something spread or laid down'), the neuter past participle of sternere ('to spread, strew, lay flat'), from Proto-Indo-European *sterh3- ('to spread, extend'). The historical chain includes Latin stratum, Latin sternere, and Proto-Indo-European *sterh3-. The quoted older senses, "something spread or laid down", "to spread, strew, lay flat", and "to spread, extend", supply the semantic anchors for stratum. The formation is best read as participial and borrowed: the word stratum carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "a layer of material, especially rock, or a level of society". English derivatives include strata and stratal; related English forms include stratify, stratification, stratosphere, and substratum. The result is a noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- People & Society

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