candidacy

Etymology

It is formed from English candidate + -acy,^[2][3][4] on the model of pairs such as magistrate and magistracy.^[2][5][6] Candidate is from Latin candidātus (“clothed in white; a candidate for office”), because candidates for office wore a white toga, from candidus (“white”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The position or status of a candidate: 1810, in the Georgia Argus of Milledgeville, Georgia.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its single sense, the state of standing as a candidate.^[2][5] Its first record is American, and the dictionaries date it variously: 1810 in the current OED,^[2] 1822 in Etymonline,^[4] 1848 in Merriam-Webster^[5] and 1852 in the OED's first edition.^[7] The British equivalent candidature, formed after French with the suffix -ure, is recorded from 1823,^[2][3] and Merriam-Webster labels it chiefly British.^[5]

Timeline

• 1810 – the position or status of a candidate, in a Georgia newspaper.^[2]
• 1822 – Etymonline's first date.^[4]
• 1823 – candidature, in the London Morning Post.^[2]
• 1848 – Merriam-Webster's first known use.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being a candidate, or of standing as one, especially for an elected office: She announced her candidacy for the city council.^[5][2][3]

Word family

• precandidacy

Related words

• candidate
• candidature
• candid
• candor
• candle

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster gives candidature as chiefly British,^[5] and Chambers lists candidature, candidateship and candidacy together.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers