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abscond

Etymology and origin of the English word abscond

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Formation
Borrowing
Borrowed from
Middle French abscondre

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /əbˈskɒnd/ (UK); /əbˈskɑnd/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French abscondre (“to hide”) and directly from Latin abscondere (“to hide away, conceal”),[2][3] from Latin abs- (“away”) + condere (“to put together, store”).[4][2][3][5] Condere is itself from com- “together” and -dere “to put”.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To hide oneself or withdraw from public view, used especially of debtors and others escaping the law (1565–78).[6][2]

Semantic evolution

In Latin and in early English the verb was transitive, “to hide (something)”, and it was also used reflexively, “to hide oneself”;[6] the intransitive use arose by omitting the reflexive pronoun.[6] The transitive and reflexive uses are now obsolete or archaic,[6] and the word settled on the sense of leaving suddenly and secretly to escape debt or the law.[3][5][7] Random House dates the word to 1605–15, later than the OED and Barnhart.[7][6][2]

Timeline

  • 1565 – to hide oneself, to withdraw from view (Barnhart, OED).[2][6]
  • c. 1578 – first date given by Merriam-Webster.[5]
  • 1612 – transitive, to hide (something), now obsolete.[6]
  • 1719 – the adjective abscond “hidden”, now obsolete.[6]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To leave quickly and in secret, especially to avoid arrest or prosecution.
  2. To go off secretly taking something that belongs to someone else, as in absconded with the funds.
  3. (archaic) To hide or conceal.

Word family

  • absconder
  • abscondence
  • sconce
  • recondite
  • condiment
  • decamp
  • bolt

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Abscond.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/abscond. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·