Where Does The Word "Parsing" Come From, As In Parts Of Speech?

"Parse" can be traced to the Latin word "pars," which also gives us the word "part."

From Latin, it pased to Old French and then Middle English.

The first use of "parse" in modern English is around 1553.

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There are different parts of speech in English, as we all know. There are nouns, which are used to denote the names of persons, places, and objects. Then there are verbs, which denote action. Verbs usually have the word to preceding them, or the letters 'ing' succeeding them. For verb usage in the past tense, the same usage related to tenses applies (usually suffixing the letters 'ed' to the word).

The word 'parse' has different meanings attached to it. Some of them are related to grammar and syntax, while one is from the field of computer science (to analyze or separate into more easily processed components.), which also essentially refers to a breakdown of the structure.

Following the rules of grammar, since the word parse is representative of an action, it is considered a verb. The general usages of parse are 'to parse', or 'parsing', or 'parse'(when used to imply a commanding tone.

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Glad to be of help! You're right - it is NOT a word that is used very much today. (At least in the U.S., it's because less emphasis has been placed on grammar and diagramming sentences in elemetnary schools. I'm doing what IU can to change that with the kids I teach!)

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