affectation

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French affectation (“desire for, pursuit of”) and directly borrowed from Latin affectātiō (“a striving after; a straining for effect”),^[2][3][4] though several dictionaries name only the Latin word.^[5][6][7][8] The Latin noun is formed from the stem of affectō (“to strive after, pretend to have”),^[2][5][3] the source of affect² and the frequentative of afficiō (“to do something to, act on”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An ostentatious fondness for something, a studied display, followed by of: 1542, in Udall's translation of Erasmus's Apophthegmes.^[2] Etymonline says the 1540s, Dictionary.com 1540–50, and Merriam-Webster 1549, for its sense of striving after.^[4][8][3]

Semantic evolution

The Latin noun already had both main ideas: it meant striving after or laying claim to something, in rhetoric straining after effect, and in post-classical use simulation or hypocrisy.^[2] In English the sense of artificial behaviour appears in 1548, in Cooper's Bibliotheca Eliotae, and that of pretended or false display in 1561, in Norton's translation of Calvin.^[2] The older sense of aiming at or earnestly pursuing something, recorded from 1549, and that of fondness, recorded from 1607, both died out in the early 19th century.^[2] Johnson's 1755 dictionary defined the word only as making an artificial appearance;^[9] his 1773 revision put "fondness" first, usually with some blame attached.^[9] French also gave it the sense of assigning something to a particular use, and English took this up rarely: once in Cotgrave (1611), then in 1914 for the declared occupation of a ship.^[2]

Timeline

• 1542 – a studied display, an ostentatious fondness for something.^[2]
• 1548 – artificiality of manner, putting on airs.^[2]
• 1549 – a striving after something (obsolete by 1825).^[2][3]
• 1561 – pretence, false display.^[2]
• 1607 – fondness, liking (obsolete by 1828).^[2]
• 1914 – the declared occupation of a ship.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An assumed manner of speech, dress or behaviour, especially one meant to impress others: Her new accent struck her friends as an affectation.^[6][3][2]
2. A deliberate pretence or false display of a feeling or quality: an affectation of calm.^[6][3][2]
3. (now somewhat rare) A showy fondness for something, followed by of.^[2][10]
4. (rare) The declared occupation of a ship.^[2]
5. (obsolete, 1549–1825) A striving after or earnest pursuit of something.^[3][2][10]
6. (obsolete, 1607–1828) Fondness, affection.^[3][2][10]

Related words

• affect
• affective
• affection
• affectionate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press