means The quality of being important, meaningful, or worthy of attention — the weight a thing carries beyond its mere existence.

from From Latin significare, 'to signify, indicate, make a sign,' built from signum ('sign, mark, token') plus the verb facere ('to make'). So at root, significance is the act of sign-making — of something pointing beyond itself to a meaning. It traveled into English through Old French signifiance in the late Middle Ages, carrying that ancient sense that the world is full of signs, if only you can read which ones matter.