colonialism

Etymology

It is formed from English colonial + -ism.^[2][3][4][5] The adjective comes from Latin colōnia (“settlement, colony”) and the suffix -al,^[2][3] and the Latin noun from colōnus (“farmer, settler”), from colō (“to cultivate, inhabit”).^[3] The OED compares colonialist, recorded slightly later.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The policy or practice of taking political control of another country and settling it: 1791, in a letter of J. Bentham, according to the revised OED.^[2] The OED's 1989 edition had dated the word to 1853,^[6] Etymonline dates it to 1843, in the sense "ways or speech of colonial persons",^[3] and Merriam-Webster gives 1583 as the first known use of its first sense, the quality or state of being colonial.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Through the 19th century the word could mean a word or phrase typical of a colony (from 1842, in the Sydney Morning Herald) or a custom peculiar to one (1855–66).^[2] The meaning "system of colonial rule" became established later: Etymonline dates it from 1884 and notes that at first it did not necessarily suggest exploitation.^[3] The OED also records the attitudes of colonizers, especially a belief in one's own country's superiority and its right to colonize others, from 1856, and those of the colonized, a feeling of inferiority to the mother country, from 1883.^[2] The Shorter Oxford notes that the policy sense is now often used disparagingly, of exploitation of weaker peoples.^[4]

Timeline

• 1791 – the policy or practice of acquiring control of another country and settling it.^[2]
• 1842 – a word or phrase characteristic of a colony.^[2]
• 1855 – a custom peculiar to a colony (obsolete by 1866).^[2]
• 1856 – the outlook of colonizers, a belief in their country's right to colonize others.^[2]
• 1883 – the outlook of colonists, a sense of inferiority to the mother country.^[2]
• 1884 – the system of colonial rule, in Etymonline's dating.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The policy or practice of a state acquiring and keeping colonies and controlling other peoples or territories, often with the suggestion of exploitation.^[2][7][8][4]
2. The attitude of colonizers, especially the belief that one's own country is superior and entitled to rule others.^[2]
3. The quality or state of being colonial.^[7]
4. (historical, rare) A word, idiom or custom characteristic of a colony; a provincialism.^[2][7]

Word family

• colonialist
• colonialistic
• anticolonialism
• neocolonialism

Related words

• colony
• colonist
• colonize
• cultivate

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins