document definition

English document definition

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French document, from Latin documentum.

Pronunciation

(noun)
- (Received Pronunciation): enPR: dŏ'kyo͝omənt, IPA^(key): /ˈdɒkjʊmənt/
- (US): enPR: dä'kyo͝omənt, IPA^(key): /ˈdɑkjʊmənt/
  - Audio (US) (file)
(verb)
- (Received Pronunciation): enPR: dŏ'kyo͝omĕnt, IPA^(key): /ˈdɒkjʊmɛnt/
  - Audio (UK) (file)
- (US): enPR: dä'kyo͝omĕnt, IPA^(key): /ˈdɑkjʊmɛnt/

Noun

document (plural documents)

An original or official paper used as the basis, proof, or support of anything else, including any writing, book, or other instrument conveying information pertinent to such proof or support.
- 1794, William Paley, View of the Evidences of Christianity:
  Saint Luke […] collected them from such documents and testimonies as he […] judged to be authentic.
Any material substance on which the information is represented by writing.
(computing) A file that contains text.
(obsolete) That which is taught or authoritatively set forth; precept; instruction; dogma.
- 1741, Isaac Watts, The Improvement of the Mind:
  And particularly they should take care that the memory of the learner be not too much crowded with a tumultuous heap or overbearing multitude of documents or ideas at one time.
(obsolete) An example for instruction or warning.
- 1614, Sir Walter Raleigh, The Historie of the World:
  They were forthwith stoned to death, as a document to others.

Hyponyms

here document
Web document

Derived terms

document-style
here-document

Related terms

Translations

original or official paper

Albanian: dokument (sq) m
Arabic: وَثِيقَة‎ f (waṯīqa), مُسْتَنَد‎ m (mustanad)
Armenian: փաստաթուղթ (hy) (pʿastatʿułtʿ)
Assamese: please add this translation if you can
Asturian: documentu m
Azerbaijani: sənəd (az), kağız (az), dokument
Basque: please add this translation if you can
Belarusian: дакуме́нт m (dakumjént), дакумэ́нт m (dakumént)
Bengali: দলিল (dôlil), দস্তাবেজ (dôśtabej)
Bulgarian: докуме́нт (bg) m (dokumént)
Burmese: စာရွက်စာတမ်း (my) (carwakcatam:)
Catalan: document (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 文件 (zh) (wénjiàn), 公文 (zh) (gōngwén), 文書 (zh), 文书 (zh) (wénshū)
Czech: dokument (cs)
Danish: dokument (da) n
Dutch: document (nl) n
Esperanto: dokumento, akto
Estonian: dokument
Faroese: skjal n
Finnish: asiakirja (fi), dokumentti (fi)
French: document (fr) m, écrit (fr) m
Galician: documento (gl) m
Georgian: დოკუმენტი (doḳumenṭi), საბუთი (sabuti)
German: Unterlagen (de) pl, Dokument (de) n, Aktenstück (de) n, Schriftstück (de) n
Greek: έγγραφο (el) n (éngrafo), τεκμήριο (el) n (tekmírio)
Ancient: δέλτος f (déltos)
Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
Haitian Creole: dokiman
Hawaiian: palapala
Hebrew: תְּעוּדָה‎ (he) f (te'uda), מִסְמָך‎ (he) m (mismakh)
Hindi: दस्तावेज़ f (dastāvez), सनद (hi) f (sanad), काग़ज़ m (kāġaz)
Hungarian: okirat (hu), okmány (hu), dokumentum (hu)
Icelandic: skjal (is) n
Indonesian: dokumen (id)
Irish: cáipéis f, doiciméad m
Italian: documento (it) m, carta (it) f
Japanese: 書類 (ja) (しょるい, shorui), 文書 (ja) (ぶんしょ, bunsho), ドキュメント (dokyumento)
Kazakh: құжат (qūjat), ыспаттама (yspattama)
Khmer: ឯកសារ (km) (ʼaekaʼsaa)
Korean: 서류(書類) (ko) (seoryu), 문서(文書) (ko) (munseo), 도큐먼트 (dokyumeonteu)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: belge (ku), dokument (ku)
Kyrgyz: документ (ky) (doqument)
Lao: ເອກະສານ (lo) (ʼē ka sān)

Latin: scriptum (la) n
Latvian: dokuments m
Lithuanian: dokumentas (lt) m
Macedonian: докуме́нт m (dokumént)
Malay: surat (ms), dokumen (ms)
Maltese: dokument m
Maori: tuhinga
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: баримт бичиг (mn) (barimt bichig)
Norman: dotchûment m
Norwegian:
Bokmål: dokument (no) n
Occitan: document (oc) m
Ojibwe: mazina'igan
Pashto: دستاوېز‎ (ps) m (dastāwez), سند‎ (ps) m (sanad), مدرک‎ m (madrak), وثيقه‎ f (wasiqa)
Persian: سند‎ (fa) (sanad), مدرک‎ (fa) (madrak)
Polish: dokument (pl) m
Portuguese: documento (pt) m
Romanian: document (ro) n
Russian: докуме́нт (ru) m (dokumént)
Scottish Gaelic: sgrìobhainn f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: доку̀мент m

Roman: dokùment (sh) m
Sicilian: carta (scn) f, ducumentu (scn) m, pricu m
Sinhalese: ඔප්පුව (oppuwa)
Skolt Sami: dokumentt
Slovak: dokument (sk) m
Slovene: dokument (sl) m
Spanish: documento (es) m, pliego (es)
Swahili: waraka (sw)
Swedish: dokument (sv) n
Tagalog: dokumento, papeles
Tajik: ҳуҷҷат (tg) (hujjat), санад (sanad), документ (tg) (dokument), мадрак (madrak)
Tamil: பத்திரம் (ta) (pattiram)
Thai: เอกสาร (th) (èek-gà-sǎan)
Turkish: belge (tr), doküman (tr)
Turkmen: dokument
Ukrainian: докуме́нт (uk) m (dokumént)
Urdu: دَسْتاویز‎ f (dastāvez), سَنَد‎ f (sanad), کاغَذ‎ m (kāġaz)
Uyghur: ھۆججەت‎ (höjjet), دوكۇمېنت‎ (dokumënt)
Uzbek: hujjat (uz), dokument (uz), sanad (uz) (dated)
Vietnamese: tài liệu (vi), văn kiện (vi)
Volapük: doküm (vo)
Yiddish: דאָקומענט‎ m (dokument), שריפֿט‎ m (shrift), געשריפֿט‎ n (geshrift), כּתבֿ‎ m or n (ksav), שטר‎ m (shtar)
West Frisian: akte, dokumint
Zazaki: medrek

(computing) a file that contains text

Arabic: مُسْتَنَد‎ m (mustanad)

References

document on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

document (third-person singular simple present documents, present participle documenting, simple past and past participle documented)

To record in documents.
He documented each step of the process as he did it, which was good when the investigation occurred.
To furnish with documents or papers necessary to establish facts or give information.
A ship should be documented according to the directions of law.