accession

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French accession (“attack of an illness; addition, acquisition”) and its source borrowed from Latin accessiō (“approach; onset of a disease; addition, increase”),^[2][3][4] a noun formed from accessus, the past participle of accēdō (“to approach”),^[2][5][6] the source of accede.^[6] The Latin verb is formed from ad- (“to”) and cēdō (“to go”), from Proto-Indo-European *ked- (“to go, yield”).^[6] The French noun meant an attack of illness from the 12th century and an addition or acquisition from the 14th;^[2][3] the OED compares the later French senses of attaining an office (17th century) and of joining an alliance (1743).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Something added or joined to another thing; an augmentation: 1551, in Stephen Gardiner's Explicatio.^[2][3] Etymonline dates the word to the 1580s,^[6] and the Shorter Oxford to the late 16th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The Latin senses of addition and of approach both came into English.^[2] The action of joining something or someone to something else is recorded from 1570,^[2][7] the onset of an illness from 1565 and of an emotion or a mental state from about 1608,^[2][7] and the action of entering or coming into contact with something from 1608.^[2] The sense now usual, the attainment of an office or rank, especially of a monarch to the throne, is dated to 1611 in the Historical Thesaurus^[7] and to the 1640s in Etymonline.^[6] Assent or agreement to a plan or proceeding is recorded from before 1617,^[2] the joining of a state to a union or organization from 1704,^[2] and an addition to the collection of a library or museum from 1763.^[2] In law it has named, since 1651, the acquiring of what one's property produces or what is added to it.^[2][8] Johnson (1755) gave first "encrease by something added, enlargement, augmentation".^[9] The verb, to record a new acquisition, is first recorded in 1887, in an American document.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1551 – something added, an augmentation.^[2][3]
• 1565 – medicine, an attack of illness.^[2][7]
• 1570 – the joining of one thing to another.^[2]
• c. 1608 – the onset of an emotion.^[2]
• 1611 – the attainment of an office, especially the throne.^[7]
• before 1617 – assent to a plan or proceeding.^[2]
• 1651 – law, the acquiring of what property produces or what is added to it.^[2]
• 1704 – the joining of a state to a union.^[2]
• 1763 – an addition to a library or museum.^[2]
• 1887 – verb, to record a new acquisition.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of coming to an office, rank or position, especially of a monarch to the throne: the celebrations that followed the king's accession.^[8][7][2]
2. Something added to a collection, as in a library or museum; an acquisition.^[8][3][2]
3. The formal joining of a state to a union, alliance or treaty already in force.^[8][3][2]
4. An increase brought about by an addition.^[8][2]
5. Agreement or assent, as to a plan or demand.^[8][2]
6. (law) An addition to land or property by natural increase or improvement, or the owner's right to it.^[8][2]
7. A specimen or sample under study, as in a plant collection.^[3]

Verb

1. To record an item as a new addition to a library or museum collection: Every donated book is accessioned within a week.^[3][8][2]

Word family

• accessional
• nonaccession
• reaccession
• accession number

Related words

• accede
• access
• accessory
• cede
• succession
• deaccession

References

1. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
8. ^ a b c d e f g h 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.