Etymologically
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applicant

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈæp.lə.kənt/[1]
  • UK: /ˈæp.lɪ.kənt/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin applicāns (“applying”), the present participle of applicō (“to attach, join, apply”),[2][3][4][5][6][7] with the ending that became the English suffix -ant;[4][6] the Latin verb is formed from ad- (“to”) and plicō (“to fold”), and is the source of apply.[5][3] The OED compares French appliquant, the present participle of appliquer.[2] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English instead treat the noun as formed in the early 19th century from application with the same suffix.[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective meaning pliant or docile, a sense now obsolete: about 1500, in the Digby play of the Conversion of Saint Paul.[2] Barnhart and Etymonline date the word to about 1485 and the late 15th century.[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The adjective also meant "applying or conferring something" (1619) and, in law, "making a request", as in party applicant (1826).[2] As a noun it first meant a person who applies something (1692),[2] then from about 1742 a person who makes a request or asks a court for an order;[2][7] from 1779 it meant a candidate who formally applies for a position, the main modern sense.[2] Collins defines it as a person who applies for a job, a grant or support, and gives candidate as a synonym.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 1485 – first date in Barnhart.[4]
  • c. 1500 – adjective, pliant, docile (obsolete).[2]
  • 1619 – adjective, that applies or confers something (obsolete).[2]
  • 1692 – noun, a person who applies something (obsolete).[2]
  • c. 1742 – a person who makes a request or applies to a court.[2][7]
  • 1779 – a candidate for a position.[2]
  • 1826 – in law, adjective, making a request (party applicant).[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person who applies for something, such as a job, a grant or a place at a school; a candidate: Over two hundred applicants sent in their forms.[10][7][2]
  2. (law) A person who applies to a court for an order.[2]

Adjective

  1. (law) Applying or making a request; chiefly in party applicant.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins