Origin: Latin suffix -tion
Discrimination has 3 different meanings across 1 category:
unfair treatment of a person or group on the basis of prejudice
"The manager's decision to reject qualified applicants solely because of their age is a clear case of discrimination."
the cognitive process whereby two or more stimuli are distinguished
"The toddler's ability to tell apart her mother's voice from a stranger's is an early sign of discrimination in how she processes sounds."
Discernment, the act of discriminating, discerning, distinguishing, noting or perceiving differences between things, with intent to understand rightly and make correct decisions.
"The judge praised her discrimination in selecting the most qualified candidates from a large pool of applicants."
In plain English: Discrimination is treating someone unfairly because of who they are, like their race, gender, or background.
"The restaurant refused to serve him because of his race, which was an act of discrimination."
Usage: In modern usage, discrimination as a noun almost exclusively refers to unfair treatment of individuals based on characteristics like race or gender rather than the original meaning of discernment. You should use it to describe prejudice or bias in social contexts, avoiding its historical sense of careful judgment unless specifically discussing that concept.
The word discrimination entered English in the 17th century as a learned borrowing from Latin, where it originally meant "the act of distinguishing." It was formed by adding the suffix "-tion" to the verb discriminate, which itself comes from the Latin root meaning "to distinguish."