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adapt

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /əˈdæpt/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French adapter (14th century),[2][3][4] from Latin adaptāre, to adjust, fit to,[2][3] from ad-, to, and aptāre, to join, put into position, from aptus, fitted (see apt).[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The past participle adapted, fitted, is probably from before 1425,[2] the early 15th century in Etymonline,[3] but the Middle English evidence is weak: the word seems not to have become current until the 17th century,[2][4] first reliably before 1616 in Ben Jonson's Discoveries in Barnhart, 1611 in the OED.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

To alter or modify something for a new use is from 1774,[6] and to produce a work by adaptation from 1805.[6] The intransitive sense, to undergo change so as to suit new conditions, is from 1956.[6][3] Adaptable is from 1800 and adaptation from 1610.[2]

Timeline

  • before 1425 – adapted, fitted.[2]
  • 1610 – adaptation.[2]
  • 1611 – to fit to a purpose.[6]
  • 1774 – to modify for a new use.[6]
  • 1800 – adaptable.[2]
  • 1956 – to adjust oneself.[6][3]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To make suitable for a new use or situation by changing it.
  2. To adjust to new conditions or surroundings.
  3. To rewrite a work in a new form: to adapt a novel for television.

Word family

  • adaptedness
  • nonadapting
  • misadapt
  • preadapt
  • adaptable
  • adaptation
  • adapter
  • adaption
  • adaptive
  • apt
  • adept
  • aptitude

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 j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ 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