assignment

English

Etymology

From Middle English assignement, from Old French assignement. By surface analysis, assign +‎ -ment.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈsaɪnmənt/

Hyphenation: a‧ssign‧ment

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪnmənt

Noun

assignment (countable and uncountable, plural assignments)

1. The act of assigning; the allocation of a job or a set of tasks.

   This flow chart represents the assignment of tasks in our committee.

2. The categorization of something as belonging to a specific category.

   We should not condone the assignment of asylum seekers to that of people smugglers.

   1. (LGBTQ) The categorization of persons as belonging to the male or female sex.
3. An assigned task.

   The assignment the department gave him proved to be quite challenging.

4. A position to which someone is assigned.

   Unbeknownst to Mr Smith, his new assignment was in fact a demotion.

6. (education) A task given to students, such as homework or coursework.

   Mrs Smith gave out our assignments, and said we had to finish them by Monday.

7. (law) A transfer of a right or benefit from one person to another.

   The assignment of the lease has not been finalised yet.

8. (law) A document that effects this transfer.

   Once you receive the assignment in the post, be sure to sign it and send it back as soon as possible.

9. (programming) An operation that assigns a value to a variable.

Hyponyms

• (programming): augmented assignment

Derived terms

• antiassignment
• assignment operator
• frequency assignment
• misassignment
• nonassignment
• Procrustean assignment
• reassignment
• time-assignment speech interpolation
• unassignment
• understand the assignment

 

Translations

act of assigning; allocation of tasks

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 分配 (zh) (fēnpèi), 布置 (zh) (bùzhì), 指定 (zh) (zhǐdìng), 指派 (zh) (zhǐpài)

• Danish: opgave c, tildeling c
• Dutch: toewijzing (nl) f, toekenning (nl) f
• Finnish: toimeksianto (fi) (act of assigning); työnjako (fi) (allocation)
• French: affectation (fr) f
• German: Zuweisung f, Übertragung (de) f
• Portuguese: designação (pt) f
• Russian: назначе́ние (ru) n (naznačénije), распределе́ние (ru) n (raspredelénije)
• Spanish: asignación (es) f
• Swedish: tilldelning (sv)

categorization

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 歸類／归类 (zh) (guīlèi)

• Finnish: luokitus (fi)
• French: affectation (fr) f
• German: Zuordnung (de) f
• Polish: przyporządkowywanie n, przyporządkowanie n
• Portuguese: atribuição (pt) f
• Russian: категориза́ция (ru) f (kategorizácija), классифика́ция (ru) f (klassifikácija)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

task

• Azerbaijani: tapşırıq (az)
• Belarusian: зада́нне n (zadánnje), зада́ча (be) f (zadáča)
• Bulgarian: зада́ча (bg) f (zadáča)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 任務／任务 (zh) (rènwù)

• Dutch: opdracht (nl) f, taak (nl) f
• Finnish: tehtävä (fi), toimeksianto (fi)
• French: tâche (fr) f, mission (fr) f
• German: Aufgabe (de), Aufgabengebiet (de) n, Arbeit (de) f, Auftrag (de) m
• Hebrew: מְשִׂימָה (he) f (mesimá)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: oppdrag n

• Russian: зада́ние (ru) n (zadánije), зада́ча (ru) f (zadáča), поруче́ние (ru) n (poručénije)
• Spanish: tarea (es) f, encargo (es) m, encomienda (es) f
• Swedish: uppdrag (sv), uppgift (sv)
• Ukrainian: завда́ння (uk) n (zavdánnja), зада́ча f (zadáča)

position

• Bulgarian: назначе́ние (bg) n (naznačénie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 指派 (zh) (zhǐpài), 職位／职位 (zh) (zhíwèi)

• Dutch: benoeming (nl) f
• Finnish: tehtävä (fi)
• French: affectation (fr) f
• German: Posten (de) m
• Portuguese: atribuição (pt) f, posição (pt) f
• Russian: назначе́ние (ru) n (naznačénije)
• Spanish: tarea (es) f
• Swedish: uppdrag (sv) n

typically a task given to students

• Azerbaijani: tapşırıq (az), ev tapşırığı
• Bulgarian: зада́ча (bg) f (zadáča)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 作業／作业 (zh) (zuòyè)

• Danish: opgave c
• Dutch: huiswerk (nl) n, opdracht (nl) f, taak (nl) f
• Finnish: tehtävä (fi), harjoitustehtävä (fi)
• French: devoir (fr)
• German: Aufgabe (de), Hausarbeit (de) f, Studienarbeit f
• Indonesian: tugas (id)
• Japanese: 宿題 (ja) (しゅくだい, shukudai)
• Korean: 숙제 (ko) (sukje)
• Malay: tugasan
• Portuguese: tarefa (pt) f, trabalho (pt) m
• Russian: зада́ние (ru) n (zadánije), зада́ча (ru) f (zadáča), дома́шнее зада́ние (ru) n (domášneje zadánije) (homework)
• Spanish: tarea (es)
• Tagalog: takdang-aralin

transfer of rights or benefits

• Breton: dilez m
• Bulgarian: преотстъпване (preotstǎpvane)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: cessie (nl) c
• Finnish: oikeuden luovutus
• French: cession (fr) f
• German: Abtretung (de) f, Zession (de) f
• Italian: cessione (it) f
• Japanese: 譲渡 (ja) (jōto)
• Polish: cesja (pl), przelew (pl) m
• Portuguese: cessão (pt) f
• Russian: переда́ча (ru) f (peredáča), переусту́пка (ru) f (pereustúpka), це́ссия (ru) f (céssija), индоссаме́нт (ru) m (indossamént), ассигнова́ние (ru) n (assignovánije) (funds)
• Spanish: cesión (es) f
• Welsh: aseiniad (cy) m

document that effects this transfer

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: akte van cessie c
• Finnish: luovutuskirja
• French: acte de cession m
• German: Abtretungsurkunde f, Zessionsurkunde f, Übertragungsurkunde f
• Italian: atto di cessione m
• Portuguese: cessão (pt) f
• Russian: докуме́нт (ru) m (dokumént) (о переда́че)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

operation(s) that assign a value to a variable

• Bulgarian: присвояване (prisvojavane)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 赋值 (fùzhí)

• Czech: přiřazení n
• Esperanto: valorizo, valorhavigo
• Finnish: arvon asetus
• French: affectation (fr) f
• Japanese: 代入 (だいにゅう, dainyū)
• Polish: przypisanie (pl) n
• Portuguese: atribuição (pt) f
• Russian: присвое́ние (ru) n (prisvojénije), присва́ивание (ru) n (prisváivanije)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Swedish: tilldelning (sv) c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} задача (bg) (zadača), ^{(please verify)} предназначение (bg) (prednaznačenie)
• German: ^{(please verify)} Einsatz (de)

References

• assignment on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Chinese

Alternative forms

• asm (pseudo-acronym)

Etymology

From English assignment.

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): aa⁶ saai¹ man⁴

---

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: aa⁶ saai¹ man⁴
    • Yale: ah sāai màhn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: aa⁶ saai¹ man⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: a⁶ sai¹ men⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /aː²² saːi̯⁵⁵ mɐn²¹/

Noun

assignment

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) assignment; homework; coursework (Classifier: 份 c)

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 家庭作業 (“homework”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		家庭作業, 功課
Northeastern Mandarin	Taiwan	家庭作業, 功課
Cantonese	Hong Kong	功課, 家課, assignment
Hakka	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	功課, 宿題
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	功課
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	功課, 宿題
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	功課, 課題
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	功課, 宿題
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	功課, 宿題
Southern Min	Tainan	宿題

References

• Bauer, Robert S. (2021) ABC Cantonese-English Comprehensive Dictionary, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, →ISBN, page 10
• English Loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese