trace

B1 Topic:People & Society

US /tɹeɪs/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like tress /ɛ/ vs /eɪ/

Freq #2458

Meanings

1

noun
A sign that something or someone has been present.

There wasn't a trace of evidence to support the claim.
2

noun
A very small amount of something.

There are traces of chocolate around your lips.
3

verb
To find out where something came from or what happened by following the evidence.

Police traced the call back to a house in the city.
4

verb
To go back over something step by step.

We retraced the route we took last summer.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

2 noun · a very small amount of... bit suggestion

4 verb · to go back over something... retrace

Word family

Forms tracedtracestracing

Derived forms contact-tracedowntraceuptrace

Related forms tracing

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

trace element
an element needed or present in extremely small amounts in biological systems

Noun + noun

Simplified etymology

Trace entered Middle English and is related to Latin trahere, “to pull” or “draw.” It originally meant a path along which someone is drawn.

Etymology

From Middle English tracen, from Old French tracer, trasser (“to delineate, score, trace", also, "to follow, pursue”), probably a conflation of Vulgar Latin *tractiō (“to delineate, score, trace”), from Latin trahere (“to draw”); and Old French traquer (“to chase, hunt, pursue”), from trac (“a track, trace”), from Middle Dutch treck, treke (“a drawing, draft, delineation, feature, expedition”). More at track.

tracen Middle English tracer Old French *tractiō la-vul trahere Latin treck Middle Dutch

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# trace

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /tɹeɪs/
**Frequency rank:** 2458

## Meanings
1. A sign that something or someone has been present.
2. A very small amount of something.
3. To find out where something came from or what happened by following the evidence.
4. To go back over something step by step.

## Examples
- There wasn't a trace of evidence to support the claim.
- There are traces of chocolate around your lips.
- Police traced the call back to a house in the city.
- We retraced the route we took last summer.

## Derived Forms
- contact-trace
- downtrace
- uptrace

## Related Forms
- tracing

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: tracen
- Root: tracer
- Root: *tractiō
- Root: trahere - to pull
- Root: treck

## Etymology
From Middle English tracen, from Old French tracer, trasser (“to delineate, score, trace", also, "to follow, pursue”), probably a conflation of Vulgar Latin *tractiō (“to delineate, score, trace”), from Latin trahere (“to draw”); and Old French traquer (“to chase, hunt, pursue”), from trac (“a track, trace”), from Middle Dutch treck, treke (“a drawing, draft, delineation, feature, expedition”). More at track.

## AI Etymology
Trace is from Middle English tracen, from Old French tracer, trasser (“to delineate, score, trace", also, "to follow, pursue”), probably a conflation of Vulgar Latin *tractiō (“to delineate, score, trace”), from Latin trahere (“to draw”); and Old French traquer (“to chase, hunt, pursue”), from trac (“a track, trace”), from Middle Dutch treck, treke (“a drawing, draft, delineation, feature, expedition”). More at track. In present-day use, it can mean a sign that something or someone has been present, or a very small amount of something.

## Topics
- People & Society

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