permutation

Meaning

Noun

• One of the ways something exists, or the ways a set of objects can be ordered.
• A one-to-one mapping from a finite set to itself.
• An ordering of a finite set of distinct elements.
• A transformation of a set's prime form, by applying one or more of certain operations, specifically, transposition, inversion, and retrograde.

Origin

• From Middle English permutacioun, permutacyoun, from Old French permutacïon, promutatïon and Medieval Latin permūtātiōnem, accusative of permūtātiō.
• Morphologically permute + -ation