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ar·chi·tec·ture (ärkĭ-tĕk′chər)
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n.
1. The art and science of designing and erecting buildings.
2. Buildings and other large structures: the low, brick-and-adobe architecture of the Southwest.
3. A style and method of design and construction: Byzantine architecture.
4. Orderly arrangement of parts; structure: the architecture of the federal bureaucracy; the architecture of a novel.
5. Computers The overall design or structure of a computer system or microprocessor, including the hardware or software required to run it.
6. Any of various disciplines concerned with the design or organization of complex systems: enterprise architecture.
[Latin architectūra, from architectus, architect; see ARCHITECT.]
ar′chi·tectur·al adj.
ar′chi·tectur·al·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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