end
n. countablen. the last part of something, like a story, a movie, or a period of time. It's the point where something stops.
n. The final part, point, or limit of something, such as a period of time, an activity, or a physical object.
This is the end of the book.
We reached the end of the trail just as the sun began to set.
The treaty marked the official end of hostilities, but the deep-seated resentments between the two nations would linger for decades.
From Middle English ende, from Old English ende, from Proto-West Germanic andī, from Proto-Germanic andijaz (“end”), from Proto-Indo-European h₂entíos (“forehead; front”), from h₂ent- (“face; forehead; front”), from *h₂en- (“on, onto”). Cognates Cognate with Yola een, eene (“end”), Saterland Frisian Eend, Eende (“end”), West Frisian ein (“end”), Alemannic German End, Endi (“end”), Central Franconian Eng, Enk (“end”), Cimbrian énte (“end”), Dutch eind, einde, end (“end”), German Ende (“end”), Luxembourgish Enn (“end”), Vilamovian end, ent (“end”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk ende (“end”), Faroese endi (“end”), Icelandic endi, endir (“end”), Swedish ända, ände (“end”), Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌴𐌹𐍃 (andeis, “end”); also Irish éadan (“end; front”), Manx eddin (“face; front”), Scottish Gaelic aodann (“face; hillside”), Latin antiae (“forelock”), Ancient Greek ἀντίος (antíos, “opposite”), Albanian anë (“brink; edge; facet; side”), Latvian no (“for; from”), Lithuanian nuo (“for; from”), Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, and Ukrainian на (na, “on”), Czech, Kashubian, Lower Sorbian, Polish, Slovak, and Slovene na (“on”), Serbo-Croatian на, na (“on”), Old Armenian ընդ (ənd, “in the place, instead of”), Old Persian 𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎹 (abiy, “against; towards; upon”), Tocharian A ānt (“in front”), Tocharian B ānte (“in front of”), Sanskrit अन्त (anta, “boundary; border, edge; end, termination”). More at and and anti-. The verb is from Middle English enden, endien, from Old English endian (“to end, to make an end of, complete, finish, abolish, destroy, come to an end, die”), from Proto-Germanic andijōną (“to finish, end”), denominative from andijaz.
Commonly used in the phrase 'at the end of' to specify a point, and 'in the end' to mean 'finally' or 'after considering everything'.
At the end, we decided to go home.In the end, we decided to go home.Learners often confuse 'at the end' (a specific point in time/space) with 'in the end' (meaning 'finally' or 'after everything').