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academic

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˌæk.əˈdem.ɪk/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French académique,[2][3][4] and directly from Latin Acadēmicus (“of the school of Plato”),[5][2] from Ancient Greek Ἀκαδημαϊκός (Akadēmaïkós),[2] from Acadēmīa, the place where Plato taught,[5][3] the source of academy.[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun, a philosopher of Plato's Academy: 1586 in the OED, the mid-16th century in SOED.[6][4] As an adjective, of an academy or institution of higher learning: about 1588 in the OED, the 1580s in Etymonline.[6][5]

Semantic evolution

A member of a college or university is from 1587,[6] at first a student,[5] now especially a senior member or a scholar.[6][4] Belonging to Plato's Academy, and so sceptical, is from 1610.[6][5] The meaning “theoretical, not practical, not leading to a decision”, as of university debates or legal exercises in class, is by 1886,[5][6] and in the arts “conforming too rigidly to the rules of an academy” from 1889.[5][6] Academic freedom is from 1901.[5][6] Johnson had academical and academician.[5]

Timeline

  • 1586 – noun, a Platonist.[6]
  • 1587 – a member of a university.[6]
  • c. 1588 – of an academy.[6]
  • 1610 – of Plato's Academy, sceptical.[6]
  • 1886 – theoretical, not practical.[5][6]
  • 1889 – conventional in art.[5][6]
  • 1901 – academic freedom.[5][6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Of or relating to a school, especially one of higher learning, or to scholarly work.
  2. Relating to liberal or classical studies rather than technical or vocational ones.
  3. Theoretical or speculative, with no practical importance: an academic question.
  4. Conforming to the rules of an academy; conventional.

Noun

  1. A member of a university or college, especially a teacher or researcher.
  2. A person with a scholarly outlook or background.

Word family

  • academically
  • quasi-academic
  • Academicism
  • academicize
  • interacademic
  • pseudoacademic
  • subacademic
  • unacademic
  • academia
  • academical
  • academism
  • academy
  • academician

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c 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 k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press