footnote
footnote Lexical Profile
footnote Game Scores & Validity
• noun
An ancillary piece of information or a bibliographic citation printed at the bottom of a page, typically keyed to the main text by a superscript number or symbol.
"Please check the footnote at the bottom of page twelve for the original archival source of that quote."
A minor, subordinate, or incidental detail, event, or person in relation to a much larger subject or historical narrative.
"The brief border dispute is now remembered only as a minor footnote in the history of the nineteenth century."
• verb
To add explanatory notes or bibliographic citations at the bottom of a page in a text or document.
"The historian carefully footnoted every primary document referenced in her manuscript."
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the mid-19th century as a compound of 'foot' (in the sense of the bottom of a printed page) and 'note' (a brief written record or explanation).