appearance

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /əˈpɪə.rəns/, US /əˈpɪr.əns/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English apperaunce, an alteration under the influence of apperen “to appear” of apparaunce,^[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman apparaunce, Old French aparance “appearance, display, pomp”,^[3][4] from Late Latin apparentia,^[5][2] from the participle of appārēre (“to come in sight, make an appearance”).^[3][2] It is related to appear and apparent.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Visible state or form; mere show”: late 14th century in Etymonline;^[3] the OED has coming into view and appearing formally in court, both about 1400.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The meaning “semblance”, the state of seeming to be, is from the early 15th century,^[3][6] and the action of coming into view by the mid-15th century.^[3] A coming before the public or an audience is from the 1670s,^[3][6] and the publication of a book from 1882.^[6] Keeping up appearances is attested from 1751, and to save appearances by 1711.^[3] In Irish English an appearance was a ghost or apparition.^[7] Johnson defined it first as “the act of coming into sight”.^[8]

Timeline

• late 14th century – visible form, show.^[3]
• c. 1400 – coming into view; appearing in court.^[6]
• early 15th century – semblance.^[3]
• 1670s – coming before the public.^[3]
• 1711 – to save appearances.^[3]
• 1751 – keeping up appearances.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act of coming into sight.
2. The act of coming into public view, as of a performer, or formally before a court.
3. Outward aspect; look.
4. Something that appears; a phenomenon.
5. A superficial aspect; a semblance.
6. Appearances, outward indications: keep up appearances.

Word family

• disappearance
• reappearance

Related words

• appear
• apparent
• apparition

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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ 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)
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.