diversadj.

Etymology: Middle English divers , diverse , < Old French diviers, divers, feminine -erse (11th cent. in Littré) different, odd, wicked, cruel, = Italian diverso , Spanish diverso , Portuguese diverso < Latin diversus contrary, different, unlike, separate, originally ‘turned different ways’, past participle of dīvertĕre to divert v. The spelling was in Middle English indifferently divers and diverse . The stress was originally as in Old French on the last syllable, but in conformity with English habits, was at a very early date shifted to the first, though, as with other words from French, both pronunciations long co-existed, especially in verse. After ˈdivers became the established prose form, especially in sense 3, in which the word is always plural, the final s came, as in plural nouns, to be pronounced as z, and the word to be identical in pronunciation with the plural of diver.