late 15c., "to distribute into groups or classes," from Old French assorter "to assort, match" (15c., Modern French assortir), from a- "to" (see ad-) + sorte "kind, category," from Latin sortem (nominative sors) "lot; fate, destiny; share, portion; rank, category; sex, class, oracular response, prophecy" (from PIE root *ser- (2) "to line up"). Related: Assorted; assorting.

"action in resistance or response to another action or power," 1640s, from re- "back, again, anew" + action (q.v.). Modeled on French réaction, older Italian reattione, from Medieval Latin reactionem (nominative reactio), a noun of action formed in Late Latin from the past-participle stem of Latin reagere "react," from re- "back" + agere "to do, perform."

Originally a word in physics and dynamics. In chemistry, "mutual or reciprocal action of chemical agents upon each other," by 1836. The general sense of "action or feeling in response" (to a statement, event, etc.) is recorded from 1914. Reaction time, "time elapsing between the action of an external stimulus and the giving of a signal in reply," attested by 1874.

"gourmand," 1650s, from Greek deipnosophistes "one learned in the mysteries of the kitchen," from deipnon "chief meal, dinner" (which is of unknown origin) + sophistes "master of a craft" (see sophist). the word has come down thanks to "Deipnosophistai," 2c. B.C.E. work on gastronomy by Athenaeus.

"gift of tongues, speaking in tongues, ability to speak foreign languages without having learned them," 1857 (earlier in German and Italian), from Greek glōssa "tongue, language" (see gloss (n.2)) + lalia "talk, prattle, a speaking," from lalein "to speak, prattle," echoic.

1811, "a book printed by William Caxton (obit c. 1491), English merchant in the Netherlands who learned there the art of printing and introduced it to England. The surname is from the place in Cambridgeshire, literally "Kak's estate," from the Old Norse personal name Kakkr.