Etymologically
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abort

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /əˈbɔːt/[1]
  • US: /əˈbɔɹt/[1]

Etymology

The noun is borrowed from Latin abortus (“premature delivery, miscarriage, abortion, dead fetus”),[2][3][4] a verbal noun from aborior (“to disappear, be lost, miscarry”).[3][2] The verb comes partly from the past participle of the same Latin verb,[2][3][5][4] and partly from a post-classical Latin verb of the Vulgate meaning to miscarry, itself derived from the noun.[2][3] The American Heritage Dictionary, Klein and Collins derive it instead from abortō (“to bring forth prematurely”), a frequentative of the same verb;[6][7][8] this is the source of French avorter, which the OED only compares.[2] The Latin verb, which Etymonline notes was used of deaths, miscarriages and sunsets, is formed from ab- (“away; amiss”) and orior (“to rise, appear, be born”).[2][5][6][7] Watkins derives the second element from Proto-Indo-European *er- (“to move, set in motion”), against de Vaan and others.[5][6] Etymonline adds that the Latin verb for producing an abortion was abigō (“to drive away”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun, a miscarriage or abortion, is first recorded in a translation of Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie from about 1425;[2][3] it was obsolete in this sense by 1656.[2] The verb, of a pregnant woman or animal, to miscarry, is first recorded in 1540, in R. Jonas's translation of Roesslin's Byrth of Mankynde;[2][3] Etymonline dates it to the 1570s.[5]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined the verb only as "to bring forth before the time; to miscarry".[9] A figurative use, to bring something to a premature end, appeared about 1548; from 1620 an undertaking could itself abort, come to nothing.[2][5] In biology, from 1754, an organ aborts when its development stops so that it stays rudimentary or disappears.[2][3] The transitive senses of deliberate termination came late: to end a pregnancy (1887) and to perform an abortion on a woman (1908),[2] which Etymonline dates to 1916.[5] In aeronautics, from 1946, a pilot or crew could abort a flight or mission,[2][5] and the noun followed in 1954 for an abandoned mission or procedure;[2][4] the verb was then extended to cancelling a program or process, including a computer program.[2][3]

Timeline

  • c. 1425 – noun, a miscarriage or abortion (obsolete by 1656).[2]
  • 1540 – verb, of a woman or animal, to miscarry.[2][3]
  • c. 1548 – to bring to a premature end.[2]
  • 1578 – noun, an aborted fetus.[2]
  • 1620 – of an undertaking, to come to nothing.[2]
  • 1653 – to expel a fetus.[2]
  • 1754 – in biology, to stop developing and remain rudimentary.[2]
  • 1887 – to terminate a pregnancy.[2]
  • 1908 – to perform an abortion on a woman.[2] Etymonline dates this use to 1916.[5]
  • 1946 – to abandon a flight or mission.[2][5]
  • 1954 – noun, an abandoned mission or procedure.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To end a pregnancy before the fetus can survive; to undergo or carry out an abortion.[8][2][3]
  2. To miscarry; to expel a fetus before it is viable.[8][3][2]
  3. To stop a mission, launch, procedure or computer program before it is complete: The pilot aborted the landing in the fog.[8][2][3]
  4. To fail or come to an end early.[8][2][3]
  5. (biology) To stop developing, so as to remain rudimentary or shrink away.[3][2]

Noun

  1. The ending of a flight, mission or procedure before completion; also, an aircraft or rocket that fails in this way.[3][2][4]
  2. (obsolete, c. 1425–1656) A miscarriage or abortion.[2][3][4]

Word family

  • aborter
  • abortifacient
  • abortion
  • abortive
  • abortus

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.