Other forms: screenings
A screening is a showing of a film to an audience. A private screening, the first screening, a screening at the festival.
A press screening comes before release, and a test screening is shown to a sample audience whose reaction may change the ending — several famous films have two. The word also means checking a population for disease before symptoms appear, which is a quite different sense: cancer screening, screening programme. Note that screening in that sense is not the same as diagnosis.
1nounscreeningA showing of a film to an audience.
“There's a special screening of the film tonight, and the director will be there.”
2nouncheckingChecking a population for disease before symptoms appear.
“Regular breast cancer screening can find tumours early, when they are easier to treat.”
screening is a showing or a check.
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)ker- — to cut, divide
Proto-Germanic
*skirmiz — fur, shelter, covering, screen
Proto-West Germanic
*skirmi
Old Dutch
skirm
Middle Dutch
scherm
Old French
escren
Anglo-Norman
escren — firescreen, the tester of a bed
Middle English
scren
English
screen
English, today
screening
Built from
From screen + -ing. screen comes from Middle English scren, screne (“windscreen, firescreen”), from Anglo-Norman escren (“firescreen, the tester of a bed”), Old French escren, escrein, escran (modern French écran (“screen”)), from Middle Dutch scherm, from Old Dutch skirm, from Proto-West Germanic skirmi, from Proto-Germanic skirmiz (“fur, shelter, covering, screen”), from Proto-Indo-European (s)ker- (“to cut, divide”). Cognate with Dutch scherm (“screen”), German Schirm (“screen”). a doublet of scherm. An alternative etymology derives Old French escren, escran from Old Dutch scranc (“barrier”) (compare Middle Dutch schranc, schranke (“palisade, trellis, grid”), German Schrank (“cupboard, cabinet”), German Schranke (“fence”)), from Proto-West Germanic skrank, from Proto-Germanic skrankaz.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA