Etymologically
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approximation

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /əˌpɹɒk.sɪˈmeɪ.ʃən/[1]
  • US: /əˌpɹɑk.sɪˈmeɪ.ʃən/, /əˌpɹɒk.sɪˈmeɪ.ʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English approximacioun,[2][3][4] borrowed from Middle French approximation,[5][4] from Late Latin approximātiō,[6][5][4] from approximō (“to come near to”),[5][3][7] formed from ad- (“to”) and proximō (“to come near”),[3][5][8] from proximus (“nearest”), the superlative of prope (“near”).[3][5] The Latin verb is first recorded in Tertullian.[7] The OED treats the English noun as a noun of action formed from the Latin verb with -tion,[7] while Etymonline and Hoad see it, at least in part, as formed from the English verb approximate.[3][9] The American Heritage Dictionary traces proximus to the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *per-.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of coming near or close: perhaps before 1425, in a Middle English version of Chauliac, where it is glossed as neiȝhing, drawing near; it is also found in Capgrave's life of St Gilbert (1451).[2][3] The OED's first record is from 1646, in Sir Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica.[7]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant nearness in place or time.[2][7] From 1660, in Henry More, it was used of coming close to something in quantity, quality or degree, and so of an estimate or idea that comes close to the truth;[7][10] Etymonline dates the sense "result of approximating" to the 1650s.[3] In mathematics it named, from 1695, a way of solving problems by coming ever closer to the exact quantity.[7] Shorter-lived uses were the passing of a disease by contact, recorded in medicine from 1678 to 1753, and a horticultural term for grafting by approach (before 1774).[7][10] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as an approach to anything, quoting Browne.[11] From 1829, in Southey, it was also used of people drawing closer in feeling or interests.[7] Today it most often means a rough calculation or estimate, or a version of something that is close to but not quite the real thing.[12]

Timeline

  • before 1425 – the act of coming near or close.[2]
  • 1646 – nearness in place or time; proximity.[7]
  • 1660 – a coming close in quantity or degree; an approach to a correct estimate.[7][10] Etymonline dates the sense “result of approximating” to the 1650s.[3]
  • 1678 – in medicine, the passing of a disease by contact (obsolete by 1753).[7]
  • 1695 – in mathematics, a method of solving problems by coming ever closer to the exact quantity.[7]
  • 1829 – a drawing together in feeling or interests.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A value, figure or estimate that is close to but not exactly right; a rough calculation: His figure for the repairs was only an approximation.[12][13][7]
  2. Something that is similar to another thing but not the same; an imprecise version: The sketch was a fair approximation of the old house.[12][7]
  3. (mathematics) An inexact value or relationship used in place of an exact one, or the method of reaching a result by successive approaches to it.[12][7]
  4. The act of coming or bringing close together, or the state of being near; proximity, as of tissues brought together in surgery.[13][7]
  5. A drawing together in feeling or interests.[7]

Word family

  • approximative
  • approximatively

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster