Other forms: distinguished, distinguishing, distinguishes
To distinguish two things is to tell them apart. The twins at the school gate, a fake note from a real one, the taste of butter against the taste of margarine.
It takes two patterns and you need both: distinguish between A and B, or distinguish A from B. A second use is about seeing or hearing something faintly — through the fog she could just distinguish the outline of a boat. A third is about what sets something apart: what distinguishes this recording is the silence between the notes. And distinguish yourself means to do something so well that people notice, which is where distinguished comes from — a distinguished professor is not merely a noticeable one. Keep distinctive (having a quality that stands out) apart from distinguished (respected, and grey at the temples).
1verbdifferentiateTo recognise the difference between two or more things.
“A baby can distinguish its mother's voice from a stranger's within days.”
synonyms: differentiate, tell apart, discriminate
2verbdiscernTo make out something that is hard to see or hear.
“Through the rain he could barely distinguish the road signs.”
3verbdistinguishTo be the feature that sets something apart from others of its kind.
“What distinguishes this species is the red band on the tail.”
synonyms: characterise, set apart
4verbwellTo do something so well that you are noticed for it; used as distinguish yourself.
“She distinguished herself in her first year and was offered a scholarship.”
Latin distinguō meant to separate, divide, set off — literally to mark off — built from dis-, apart, and stinguō. That second piece is related to English stink, an unlikely cousin, and it also produced extinguish. The word walked into English through Old French distinguer and Middle English distingwen.
Latin
distinguo — to separate, divide, distinguish, set off, adorn, literally mark off
Old French
distinguer
Middle English
distingwen
English, today
distinguish
Built from
From Middle English distingwen, from Old French distinguer, from Latin distinguo (“to separate, divide, distinguish, set off, adorn, literally mark off”), from di-, dis- (“apart”) + stinguo, related to English stink. Compare extinguish.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA