communication

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kəˌmjuː.nɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English communicacioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French comunicacion and directly from Latin commūnicātiō (“a making common, imparting, communicating”) (accusative commūnicātiōnem),^[2][4] a noun of action from commūnicāre (“to share, impart, inform; to join, unite”), literally “to make common”,^[2][4] related to commūnis (“common, public, general”).^[2][4] It is related to communicate, common and community.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of imparting or transmitting: 1382 in the OED,^[5] about 1384 in the Wycliffe Bible according to Barnhart,^[4] and the early 15th century in Etymonline, as imparting, discussing or conferring.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Conversation or conference is from 1462, a sense now obsolete.^[5] “That which is communicated”, a message, is from the late 15th century (1490).^[2][5] The specific sense of imparting or exchanging ideas and information is first found in Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690).^[4][5] Access between places is from 1684,^[5] and a means of communication, such as a road or passage, by 1715.^[2][5] Communications, the means of sending information by telephone, radio and the like, belongs to the 20th century.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 1382 – the act of imparting.^[5]
• 1462 – conversation.^[5]
• 1490 – a message.^[5]
• 1684 – access between places.^[5]
• 1690 – the exchange of ideas, in Locke.^[4][5]
• 1715 – a means of communication.^[2][5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act of communicating; transmission.
2. The exchange of thoughts, messages or information, as by speech, writing or signals.
3. Something communicated; a message.
4. Communications, a system for sending and receiving messages, such as by telephone or radio.
5. A means of passage between places.

Word family

• communicational
• excommunication
• overcommunication
• communications satellite

Related words

• communicate
• communicator
• communion
• common
• community
• excommunicate
• municipal

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin