Etymologically
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civic

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈsɪv.ɪk/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cīvicus (“of a citizen”),[2][3][4] from cīvis, citizen, townsman (see city).[2][3][5] Barnhart thinks French civique (1504) unlikely to have played a part, since the first English use is in Udall's translation of Erasmus.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In civic crown or garland, Latin corōna cīvica, a wreath of oak leaves given to a Roman who saved a fellow citizen's life in battle: 1542.[2][3][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Of a city or municipality is from 1656,[6] the 17th century in Hoad.[4] Of or relating to citizens is first recorded in 1790, in Burke's writings on the French Revolution,[2][6] and of citizenship, as opposed to military or church affairs, from 1789.[6] Civics, the study of citizenship, is from 1886 in American English, formed on the analogy of politics,[2][4] and a civic centre from 1909.[6]

Timeline

  • 1542 – civic crown.[2][6]
  • 1656 – of a city.[6]
  • 1789 – of citizenship.[6]
  • 1790 – of citizens.[2][6]
  • 1886 – civics.[2]
  • 1909 – civic centre.[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Of or relating to a city, its citizens or citizenship: civic duties.
  2. Of the local government of a town; municipal.

Word family

  • civically
  • anticivic
  • civic-minded
  • civics
  • intercivic
  • uncivic
  • civic center

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 d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press