achieve

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈtʃiːv/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English acheven,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French achever (“to finish, accomplish, complete”) (12th century),^[2][3] from the phrase à chef (venir) “to come to a head, to an end”,^[2][3][5] or from Vulgar Latin *accapāre “to bring to a head”,^[3][2] from Latin ad “to” and caput “head”,^[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *kaput- (“head”).^[2] The spelling achieve was influenced by the Old French variant achiever and by chief, the older form of chef.^[3] It is related to chief and head.^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To bring to a successful end, carry out successfully: about 1325 in the OED,^[7] the early 14th century in Etymonline,^[2] about 1300 in Barnhart.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Late Latin caput had come to mean “end”, so ad caput venire meant “to come to an end”, and French venir à chef gave achever “to finish”.^[2] To bring to an end, and to come to an end, are obsolete senses from 1385 and 1393.^[7] To gain or acquire as a result of effort is from the late 14th century (1393 in the OED).^[2][7] Achievement is from 1475, in Caxton,^[3] and achiever is later.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1325 – to carry out successfully.^[7]
• c. 1385 – to finish (obsolete).^[7]
• 1393 – to gain by effort.^[7]
• 1475 – achievement.^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To carry out successfully; to accomplish.
2. To reach or gain by effort: achieve a goal.
3. To succeed in doing something.

Word family

• achievable
• achiever
• achieved
• achievement
• outachieve
• overachieve
• underachieve

Related words

• chief
• chef
• head

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 d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin