dériver

Dériver is a French verb with several related meanings that depend on context. Broadly, it can mean to obtain something from a source, to deduce or derive a conclusion from facts or reasoning; it can also refer to forming or deriving linguistic or mathematical derivatives, or to being carried by air or water away from a course.

In reasoning and everyday language, dériver often appears in the sense of drawing a conclusion or consequence from information or observations. One may also say that an argument or hypothesis dérive from certain premises, meaning it follows logically or originates from them. In linguistic and lexical contexts, dériver denotes the process of forming new words from a base, such as by affixation or composition; the related noun dérivation designates this process or the resulting derivative word.

In mathematics and the sciences, dériver is the standard verb for differentiation: to compute the derivative of a function. Thus one speaks of dériver une fonction, with the result called la dérivée and the process la dérivation. This sense is highly specialized to formal or technical language but is common in curricula and texts on calculus.

In nautical, meteorological and everyday usage, dériver also means to drift, to be carried away from a planned course by currents or wind. The noun dérive (drift) is used in related contexts to describe the movement itself, as in a vessel that dérive.

Other uses include the expression dériver de, meaning to originate from or to be derived from a source, such as traditions or practices that dérivent from earlier customs. Etymologically, dériver comes from the Latin derivare, from de- plus rivus, with a development through Old French.

See also: dérivation, dérivé, dérivée, dérive.