From Middle English assignen, from Old French assigner, asigner, from Latin assignō, from ad- + signō ("mark, sign").

• IPA: /əˈsaɪn/

assign (assigns, present participle assigning; simple past and past participle assigned)

1. (transitive) To designate or set apart (something) for some purpose.

   to assign a day for trial

2. (transitive) To appoint or select (someone) for some office.

   to assign counsel for a prisoner

3. (transitive) To allot or give (something) as a task.
   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗:

     Captain Edward Carlisle […] felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, […]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.

4. (transitive) To attribute or sort (something) into categories.
   1. (LGBT) To categorize (someone) as belonging to the male or female sex.
5. (transitive, legal) To transfer (property, a legal right, etc.) from one person to another.
6. (transitive, programming) To give (a value) to a variable.

   We assign 100 to x.

• (set apart something for some purpose) allocate, earmark; see also Thesaurus:set apart
• (transfer property) consign, convey; see also Thesaurus:transfer

• French: désigner
• German: zuweisen
• Italian: assegnare, accantonare
• Portuguese: designar, atribuir
• Russian: назнача́ть
• Spanish: asignar

• German: zuteilen
• Italian: assegnare
• Portuguese: designar
• Russian: назнача́ть
• Spanish: designar

• French: assigner
• Italian: assegnare
• Portuguese: designar, imputar, atribuir
• Spanish: asignar

• French: attribuer, assigner
• Italian: categorizzare, attribuire
• Portuguese: atribuir

• Italian: assegnare, attribuire
• Portuguese: conceder, conferir, imputar
• Spanish: ceder

• French: assigner
• German: zuweisen

assign (plural assigns)

1. An assignee.
   • 1843 December 18, Charles Dickens, “Stave I. Marley’s Ghost.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC ↗, page 2 ↗:

     Scrooge knew he was dead ? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise ? Scrooge and he were partners for I don’t know how many years. Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend and his sole mourner.

2. (obsolete) A thing relating or belonging to something else; an appurtenance.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene ii]:

     The King ſir hath wagerd with him ſix Barbary horſes, againgſt the which hee has impaund as I take it ſix French Rapiers and Poynards, with their aſſignes, as girdle, hanger and ſo.

3. (obsolete) An assignment or appointment.
4. (obsolete) A design or purpose.