allocation

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin allocātiō, used in British sources from the 13th century for allowing an item in an account and for legal acceptance,^[2][3][4][5] the noun of action of allocō (“to allocate, allot”),^[3][2] which is ad- (“to”) + locō (“to place”), from locus (“a place”).^[3][6] Compare Middle French allocacion.^[2] The Shorter Oxford notes that later uses come partly from French or from the verb allocate.^[4] It is a cousin of allow, which comes from the same Latin verb.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Authorization, in legal use: 1447–8, in the letters of John Shillingford;^[2] Etymonline dates it to the mid 15th century, spelled allocacion.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century the word was an accounting term: the allowing of an item in an account, or the sum allowed (1535).^[2][7] Johnson (1755) still defined it as the admission of an item in reckoning and as an allowance in the Exchequer.^[8] The sense "placing one thing beside another, arrangement" is recorded from 1656 to 1839 and is now obsolete.^[2] The modern sense, setting something aside as the share or responsibility of a particular person or purpose, dates from 1721, and the share itself, a quota, from 1839.^[2] In British accounting it also means dividing overhead costs among departments.^[9]

Timeline

• 1447–8 – (law) authorization.^[2]
• 1535 – the allowing of an item in an account; an allowance.^[2]
• 1656 – placing side by side, arrangement (obsolete).^[2]
• 1721 – the setting aside of something for a person or purpose.^[2]
• 1839 – the share allotted; a quota.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act of distributing or setting aside something for a particular person or purpose: the allocation of funds to new schools.
2. The amount or share that is allocated; a quota: Each club received its ticket allocation in March.
3. (accounting, chiefly British) The dividing of overhead costs among the departments of a business.

Word family

• allocative
• deallocation
• reallocation
• suballocation

Related words

• allocate
• allot
• allow
• locate
• local

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins