curve-preserving
|curve-pre-serv-ing|
🇺🇸
/ˈkɝv.prɪˈzɝvɪŋ/
🇬🇧
/ˈkɜːv.prɪˈzɜːvɪŋ/
keeps curves intact
Etymology
'curve-preserving' is a modern English compound formed from the noun 'curve' and the present-participle 'preserving'. 'curve' originates from Old French and Latin ('curvus') meaning 'bent', and 'preserve' ultimately comes from Latin 'praeservare' (from 'prae-' + 'servare') meaning 'to keep safe'.
'curve' comes from Latin 'curvus' meaning 'bent' → Old French 'curve' → Middle English 'curve' → Modern English 'curve'. 'preserve' comes from Latin 'praeservare' → Old French 'preserver' → Middle English 'preserven' → Modern English 'preserve', whose present participle 'preserving' combines with nouns to form descriptive compounds like 'curve-preserving'.
The components originally meant 'bent' (for 'curve') and 'to keep safe' (for 'preserve'); combined in modern technical usage they convey the narrower technical sense 'keeping the property of being a curve under a map or transformation'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
describing a map, function, or transformation that sends curves (e.g., arcs or continuous injective images of intervals) to curves, i.e., it preserves the property of being a curve rather than collapsing or straightening it.
The mapping is curve-preserving: every smooth arc in the domain is taken to a smooth arc in the codomain.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2025/11/06 06:39