Etymologically
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acquire

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /əˈkwaɪə/ (UK); /əˈkwaɪɚ/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English acqueren (1450), borrowed from Old French aquerre (“to acquire, gain”),[2][3][4] from Vulgar Latin *acquaerere,[3][2] a recomposition of Latin acquīrere (“to get in addition”),[2][3] from ad-, to, and quaerere (“to seek”) (see query).[2][3][5] The spelling was latinized to acquire about 1600.[4][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To gain or get as one's own: about 1435 in the OED, the mid-15th century in Etymonline;[8][3] in the form acquire, 1601, in Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well.[2]

Semantic evolution

Word Origins cites the change of acquere to acquire as one of many respellings around 1600 meant to bring words closer to their Latin originals.[5] To come into possession of without reference to the manner is from 1613.[8] It was formerly confused with enquire and require.[8] Of radar, to begin receiving signals from a target, is from 1962.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1435 – to gain as one's own.[8]
  • 1450 – acqueren.[2]
  • 1601 – acquire.[2]
  • 1613 – to come into possession of.[8]
  • 1962 – of radar.[8]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To come to have; to gain possession of.
  2. To get by one's own efforts, as a skill or habit.
  3. To locate a target, such as a satellite, with radar or another detector.

Word family

  • acquirable
  • acquirer
  • acquirability
  • acquiree
  • preacquire
  • reacquire
  • acquired taste

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press