adopt

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈdɒpt/ (UK); /əˈdɑpt/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English adopten, borrowed from Middle French adopter and directly borrowed from Latin adoptāre (“to choose for oneself; to adopt as a child”),^[2][3][4][5] from ad (“to”) and optāre (“to choose, wish”) (see opt).^[2][6] It may also be a back-formation from adoption, which is older (14th century).^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To take to oneself, make one's own by choice: about 1500 in Etymonline, the late 15th century in SOED;^[2][5] to take into any relationship, 1548 in the OED.^[7]

Semantic evolution

To take legally as one's own child and to embrace a practice or method are both from about 1600 (1604 in the OED).^[2][7] In Britain, of a local authority, to take over responsibility for a road is from 1862,^[7] and to choose a candidate for election from 1879.^[7] To take up the cause of a political prisoner is from 1961.^[7] To take on a pet, or to sponsor an animal, is a later sense.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – to take as one's own.^[2]
• 1548 – to take into a relationship.^[7]
• 1604 – to adopt a child.^[7]
• 1862 – of a road, to take over.^[7]
• 1879 – to choose a candidate.^[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To take another's child legally into one's family and raise it as one's own.
2. To take up and follow a course, method or attitude.
3. To formally approve or accept, as a motion or report.
4. To choose as a candidate.

Word family

• adoptable
• adopter
• adoption
• adoptability
• preadopt
• readopt

Related words

• adoptee
• adoptive
• opt
• option
• co-opt

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins