aim

Pronunciation

• IPA: /eɪm/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English aimen, partly borrowed from Old French esmer, amer (“to value, estimate”), from Latin aestimāre (“to appraise, assess”),^[2][3][4] and partly from Old French aesmer, from Vulgar Latin *adaestimāre, from ad- “to” and aestimāre.^[3][5][6] It is a doublet of esteem,^[3] and related to estimate.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To estimate, calculate or reckon, and to intend: 1330 in the OED,^[7] about 1300 in Etymonline, about 1303 in Barnhart, in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne.^[2][3] Word Origins sums it up as evaluation before a direction is taken.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The modern sense came from calculating the direction of something about to be thrown or struck (about 1380),^[7][3] through “to calculate with a view to action, to plan”.^[2] To direct a missile or blow is from the late 14th century in Etymonline and 1573 in the OED.^[2][7] Middle English also used it of directing a letter, setting up an altar and pitching a tent.^[2] The intransitive “to intend, attempt”, used by Shakespeare, is now colloquial.^[2] The noun, a purpose, is from the late 14th century,^[2] and the act of aiming from the early 15th century;^[2] take aim was first make aim.^[2] The old sense “guess, conjecture” survives in Midland dialect.^[9]

Timeline

• 1330 – to estimate; to intend.^[7]
• c. 1380 – to calculate the direction of a blow.^[7]
• late 14th century – noun, a purpose.^[2]
• early 15th century – noun, the act of aiming.^[2]
• 1573 – to direct a weapon with the eye.^[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To point a weapon or object at a target.
2. To try or intend to do or achieve something: aim to finish by Friday.
3. To direct words or a product at a particular person or group.

Noun

1. Something that a person intends to achieve; a purpose.
2. The act of pointing a weapon at a target, or the skill of doing so.

Word family

• aimless
• aimlessly
• aimlessness
• aimer
• aimful
• aimfully
• unaiming
• misaim

Related words

• esteem
• estimate

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 k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)