Etymologically
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acquaintance

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /əˈkweɪn.təns/[1]
  • US: /ʌˈkweɪn.təns/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English aqueintaunce, also acointance,[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman aquaintaunce, also aqueintance,[4][2] and Old French acointance (“a meeting; friendship, familiarity”),[4][5][6] a noun of action from acointier (“to make known; to make the acquaintance of”), with the suffix -ance.[4][5][3][7] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from the early 13th century for acquaintance, dealings, friendship and close relationship.[8] The French verb, the source of acquaint, comes from Vulgar Latin *accognitō (“to make known”),[5][3][9] which the OED records in post-classical Latin from the 9th century, only in the sense "to notify, proclaim".[4] It is formed from Latin accognitus (“acquainted with”), the past participle of accognōscō (“to know well, recognize”), from ad- (“to”) and cognōscō (“to come to know”).[5][3] The Latin participle cognitus also gave Old French cointe and so quaint.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The state of being closely acquainted with someone; friendship, companionship: about 1230, in the Ancrene Riwle.[4][3] Etymonline dates the sense "state of being acquainted" from about 1300.[5]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant close friendship, and only later a slighter knowledge of someone, short of friendship.[4] In French the noun had meant a meeting of several people (about 1170) and friendship (about 1230), and also a love affair, a sense modern French accointance keeps with a hint of something illicit.[4] The use for a person one knows, first a friend and later someone known less well, appears in Chaucer's Summoner's Tale (about 1395) and has no parallel in the Romance languages, the OED notes;[4][5] it was used of such people collectively from before 1425.[4] Personal knowledge of a subject is recorded from about 1540,[4] and Johnson (1755) gave "the state of being acquainted with; familiarity, knowledge" as the first sense.[10] In philosophy, from 1865, acquaintance is direct awareness of something through the senses, introspection or memory.[4] Gower wrote to take acquaintance (before 1393), now obsolete, and Barbour's Bruce has to make acquaintance (1489 manuscript).[4] Etymonline notes that acquaintant (17th century) would have suited the "person known" sense better but is now obsolete.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1230 – friendship, the state of being acquainted, in the Ancrene Riwle.[4][3]
  • before 1393 – to take acquaintance, in Gower (obsolete by 1839).[4]
  • c. 1395 – a person one knows, in Chaucer.[4][5]
  • before 1425 – acquaintances collectively.[4]
  • 1489 – to make acquaintance.[4]
  • c. 1540 – personal knowledge, familiarity with a subject.[4]
  • 1792 – acquaintanceship.[5]
  • 1865 – in philosophy, direct awareness.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person one knows, but not as a close friend: He is an old acquaintance of my father's.[11][2][4]
  2. Such people collectively; all the people one knows.[11][4]
  3. Knowledge of a person or thing, especially slight knowledge; familiarity: a passing acquaintance with Greek.[11][2][4]
  4. The state of being acquainted with each other: Their acquaintance lasted many years.[2][4]
  5. make the acquaintance of: to meet someone and get to know them.[11][4]
  6. (philosophy) Direct awareness of something, as through the senses or memory.[11][4]

Word family

  • acquaintanceship
  • nonacquaintance
  • preacquaintance
  • reacquaintance
  • acquaintance rape
  • nodding acquaintance
  • acquaint
  • quaint
  • cognition
  • cognizance

Usage notes

Dictionary.com distinguishes acquaintance, someone known by sight or known but not closely, from associate, someone often in one's company through shared work or interests, companion, someone who shares one's activities or situation, and friend, someone one is close to and fond of.[12] Fowler regarded acquaintanceship (1792) as a needless variant.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  9. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House