Etymologically
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abortion

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 05:43. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /əˈbɔɹ.ʃn̩/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin abortio (“miscarriage, abortion”),[2][3][4] a noun of action from aborīrī (“to miscarry, fail, pass away”) (see abort),[2][5] which the OED analyses as ab-, here meaning amiss, and the stem of orīrī (“to arise, be born”) (see origin).[2] Latin used aborīrī for deaths, miscarriages and sunsets.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The expulsion of a fetus before it can survive, at first of both deliberate and natural miscarriage: about 1537 in MWU, 1547 in the OED, the 1540s in Etymonline.[4][6][2]

Semantic evolution

The product of an untimely birth, or any dwarfed and misshapen thing, is from 1640,[6][2] and figuratively a failure of an aim or plan from 1710.[6] In biology, the arrested development of an organ is from 1842.[6] The deliberate termination of a pregnancy is now the usual sense, and spontaneous loss is generally called miscarriage.[7][8]

Timeline

  • c. 1537 – a premature birth.[4]
  • 1640 – a misshapen product.[6]
  • 1710 – a failure.[6]
  • 1842 – in biology.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The deliberate ending of a human pregnancy, usually in its early weeks.
  2. The expulsion of a fetus before it is able to survive; a miscarriage.
  3. (biology) The arrested development of an organ.
  4. Something malformed or a complete failure.

Word family

  • abortifacient
  • abortionist
  • antiabortion
  • postabortion
  • pro-abortion
  • abortion pill

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins