Etymologically
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achieve

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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

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