The present participle of assign; allocating or designating someone or something for a particular purpose or task.
From Latin assignare, from ad- (to) + signare (to mark, sign). Entered English in 14th century meaning 'to allot' or 'to appoint'. The sense of marking or designating evolved into modern meanings of allocation and appointment.
The word retains its original sense of 'marking' - when we assign tasks, we're essentially marking them as belonging to specific people. In computing, variable assignment literally marks memory locations with values, maintaining this ancient marking metaphor.
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