axiom

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French axiome,^[2][3][4][5] perhaps also directly borrowed from Latin axiōma,^[6][5][7] and the American Heritage Dictionary gives the Latin word as the source.^[8] The Latin is from Ancient Greek ἀξίωμα (axíōma, “that which is thought worthy or fit”),^[3][2][4][9] also "authority"^[4] and, in Aristotle, a self-evident principle,^[6][10] from ἀξιόω (axióō, “to think worthy”),^{[3][2][9][11]} from ἄξιος (áxios, “worthy”).^[3][2][9] Etymonline glosses the adjective as "worthy, worth, of like value, weighing as much", and Klein as properly "weighty", from the base of ἄγω (ágō, “to lead”), used in the sense "to weigh";^[4][9] Barnhart and Etymonline trace it to Proto-Indo-European *ag- (“to drive, draw out or forth, move”).^[2][4] Klein and Merriam-Webster Unabridged relate the Greek verb to Latin agō (“to set in motion, drive”), the source of agent.^[9][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

A generally accepted principle; a maxim: 1485, in Caxton's translation of Paris and Vienne.^[2][13][10] Etymonline dates the word to the late 15th century.^[4] The current OED's first record is from 1578, in Lyly's Euphues.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In 16th-century logic an axiom was any proposition, true or false (1588 to 1742),^[3][6] but from 1593, in Hooker, logicians and mathematicians used it for a self-evident proposition, one assented to as soon as it is stated, without formal proof.^[3] Francis Bacon narrowed it to an empirical law, a generalization from experience (1626), a use the OED records until 1856.^[3][12] Johnson (1755) defined it as a proposition evident at first sight that cannot be made plainer by demonstration, and as an established principle.^[11] Keats wrote in a letter of 3 May 1818 that "axioms in philosophy are not axioms until they are proved upon our pulses".^[4] In modern logic and mathematics an axiom is not necessarily self-evident: it is a statement assumed to be true as the starting point of a deductive system.^[14][12][15]

Timeline

• 1485 – a generally accepted principle, a maxim.^[2][13] The current OED dates it to 1578.^[3]
• 1588 – in logic, any proposition, true or false (obsolete by 1742).^[3][6]
• 1593 – in logic and mathematics, a self-evident proposition.^[3]
• 1626 – in Bacon, an empirical generalization (obsolete by 1856).^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A statement or principle that is generally accepted as true; a maxim: It is an axiom of business that the customer comes first.^{[14][15][12][3]}
2. (logic, mathematics) A statement taken as true without proof as the basis for a chain of reasoning; a postulate.^[14][15][12]
3. A self-evident truth.^[14][15][3]
4. (obsolete, 1588–1742) In logic, any proposition, true or false.^[3][6]
5. (obsolete, 1626–1856) In Bacon's philosophy, an empirical generalization from experience.^[3][12]

Word family

• axiomatic
• axiomatisation
• axiomatization
• axiom of choice

Related words

• agent
• act

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d e Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b Onions, C. T., ed. (1966), The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b 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 e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin