Group Came Into English From Painting
A group is a number of things together. The word entered English as an art term for figures arranged in a composition.
A group is a number of people or things gathered together. It arrived in English in the seventeenth century as a technical term of painting, meaning an assemblage of figures forming a unit within a composition. Only later did it spread to everything else. Before that, English used *company*, *band*, *flock* or *crowd* depending on what was being described. The word probably goes back to a Germanic root meaning a lump or knot.
- A number together. *A group of friends.*
- A musical band. *A pop group.*
- A business collection. *A media group.*
- To arrange together. *Group them by size.*
- Grouping — an arrangement. *A political grouping.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | group | A small group. |
| Plural | groups | Two groups. |
| Verb | group | Group them. |
| Noun | grouping | A grouping. |
| Italian | gruppo | A knot, a cluster. |
- A group of tourists waited outside.People.
- Group the results by region.Verb.
- It began as a painting term.History.
Group in specialised fields
- Mathematics — a set with an operation obeying four axioms
- Chemistry — a column of the periodic table
- Music — a band, chiefly British and slightly dated
- Business — a parent company and its subsidiaries
- Blood group — a classification of blood types
French *groupe*, from Italian *gruppo*, a cluster or knot, probably from a Germanic root meaning a lump.
Does a group take a singular or plural verb?
British English allows both: the group is meeting, or the group are arguing. American English prefers the singular.
What is a group in mathematics?
A set with an operation that satisfies four rules: closure, associativity, an identity element and inverses.