conceit

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English conceite, also conceipt.^[2][3][4] The revised OED takes it as probably borrowed from Anglo-Norman conceit (“idea, opinion”), also conceite and conseit, recorded from the first half of the 14th century,^[5][6] perhaps the noun use of the feminine of conciez, a variant past participle of conceivre;^[5] Weekley also calls it Anglo-Norman,^[7] and the American Heritage Dictionary derives the Anglo-Norman word from Late Latin conceptus.^[8] Most other dictionaries form it from conceive on the analogy of deceive and deceit, receive and receipt,^{[9][10][11][4][2][12][3]} and the OED allows this as a possibility.^[5] The English verb goes back to Latin concipiō (“to conceive”).^[5][13] The later senses were influenced by Italian concetto, from conceptum, which the English word was probably used to represent.^[5][11][2] Etymonline calls it a doublet of concept.^[10] The verb is a conversion of the noun.^[5][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Something conceived in the mind, a thought or notion: about 1380 in Barnhart, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius,^[9] and before 1393 in the OED, in Gower's Confessio Amantis.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was neutral, an idea, and the faculty of understanding (about 1405 to 1819) belonged with it.^[5] A second line was personal opinion, recorded from about 1395 or 1405,^[9][5] which became favourable opinion by the 15th century: the OED has it from before 1438 and Barnhart from 1462, and it survives in out of conceit with, displeased with.^[5][9][12] A good opinion of oneself followed, in 1563 according to the OED and 1581 according to Barnhart, helped by self-conceit (1580s).^[5][9][10] This produced the main modern sense of vanity about 1600 or 1605.^[10][9][12] Weekley saw the decline in the idea of being wise in one's own conceit, as in Coverdale's "Be not proude in your awne consaytes", while Burns's "Lord, send us a gude conceit o' oursel'" keeps the older neutral use, which the OED calls chiefly Scottish in later use.^[7][5] Separately, the word meant a fanciful or witty notion from about 1513,^[9][10][12] then a far-fetched comparison or elaborate figure of speech, a sense Merriam-Webster traces to a translation of Italian concetto.^[12][2] The Italian form itself was used in English in the 18th and 19th centuries for a piece of affected wit.^[10] The word also meant a fancy, decorative article from late Middle English,^[14][12] and in western Scotland a fancy ornament on a cap as late as 1835.^[15] The verb (from 1557) first meant to understand or to form a notion of;^[5][2] its later sense of taking a liking to something lived on in regional English.^[5][16]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – something conceived in the mind, a notion.^[9] The OED's first quotation is from before 1393.^[5]
• c. 1405 – the faculty of understanding (obsolete by 1819); personal opinion or judgement.^[5]
• before 1438 – favourable opinion, esteem.^[5]
• c. 1513 – a fanciful or witty notion.^[9]
• 1557 – verb, to form a notion of, to understand (obsolete by 1680).^[5][2]
• 1563 – a favourable opinion of oneself.^[5]
• 1589 – verb, to take a liking to.^[5]
• 1605 – vanity, pride.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. An excessively high opinion of oneself; vanity: His conceit made him deaf to advice.^[16][2][5]
2. (literature) An elaborate image or far-fetched comparison, as used by the metaphysical poets.^[16][2][12]
3. (archaic) A fanciful or witty notion or expression.^[16][2]
4. (archaic) An idea or thought.^[16][2][5]
5. (chiefly Scottish) A particular opinion of oneself, as in a good conceit of oneself.^[5][12][7]
6. out of conceit with: no longer pleased with.^[5][12]
7. (obsolete, 1405–1819) The faculty of understanding.^[5][12]
8. (obsolete) A small fancy ornament.^[16][12]

Verb

1. (British dialect) To take a liking to; to be able to bear food or drink.^[16][2][12]
2. (archaic) To imagine or suppose; reflexively, to think well of oneself.^[2][5][12]
3. (obsolete, 1557–1680) To form a notion of; to understand.^[5][2][12]

Word family

• conceited
• self-conceit

Related words

• conceive
• concept
• concetto
• deceit
• receipt

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins