advertise

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English advertisen, also avertysen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Middle French advertir, also avertir, through its lengthened stem advertiss-,^[5][3][6][7] from Vulgar Latin *advertiō,^[3][8][6] corresponding to Latin advertō (“to turn toward; to direct one's attention to”),^[3][7] from ad- (“to, toward”) and vertō (“to turn”).^[7][3] The Old French verb, recorded in Anglo-Norman from 1155, meant to notify or advise and to notice or be mindful of.^[9][5] The OED notes that other French verbs from Latin compounds of the same verb entered English in their simple stem (convert, divert, pervert), and that the form in “-ise” was probably due to advertisement, which existed at the same time;^[5][10][6] the ending was soon taken for the suffix -ize.^[5][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To take notice of something, probably before 1425, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon, according to Barnhart;^[3][7] the OED's first record, from 1426, is of the sense to notify, warn or inform a person.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th century the verb meant both to notice and to make someone notice: to take note of (to 1606), to notify or warn a person (from 1426), and to give notice of something, to make it known (from 1447).^[5] Ayto sees the French note of warning already softening into giving notice or simply noticing.^[12] Shakespeare used it for "inform", as Johnson's quotations from Henry VIII and Richard III show.^[13] The sense of announcing something in a public medium, such as a newspaper, is recorded from 1710, and the intransitive use from 1772;^[5] the OED and Weekley note that this sense, unknown in French, follows advertisement and advertising.^[5][10] The commercial sense, calling attention to goods for sale, emerged in the mid 18th century according to Ayto,^[12] and by the late 18th century according to Etymonline.^[7] The stress also moved: in the 16th and 17th centuries it fell on the second or third syllable,^[5][12] Johnson (1755) gave it on the last,^[13] and first-syllable stress is recorded by Smart in 1857.^[5] In American slang, from 1931, to advertise was to show off or attract unwanted attention.^[14]

Timeline

• before 1425 – to take notice of.^[3]
• 1426 – to notify, warn or inform a person.^[5]
• 1447 – to give notice of, make known.^[5]
• 1606 – last record of the sense "to take note of".^[5]
• 1710 – to make known by a public announcement.^[5]
• 1772 – intransitive, to publicize something.^[5]
• mid 18th century – to promote goods for sale.^[12]
• 1931 – slang, to show off.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To present or praise goods or a service to the public, especially to increase sales: The company advertised its new phone on billboards.^[15][2]
2. To make something publicly known, such as a vacancy or an item for sale: The library advertised two posts for assistants.^[15][5]
3. (intransitive, with for) To make a public request for someone or something: The hotel advertised for a night porter.^[15][5]
4. (rare) To notify, warn or inform a person.^[5][2][13]
5. (obsolete, 1439–1606) To take note of; to notice.^[5][16]

Word family

• advertiser
• unadvertised
• overadvertise
• preadvertise
• readvertise
• advertisement
• advertising
• advert

Related words

• adverse
• adversity
• avert
• averse
• versus

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press