concept

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈkɒn.sept/, US /ˈkɑːn.sept/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French concept,^[2] or directly from Medieval Latin conceptum (“draft, abstract”),^[3][4] Late Latin conceptus (“thought, draft”),^[2][5] in classical Latin “a thing conceived; a fetus”,^[3][2] from concipere (“to take in and hold; to become pregnant”),^[3][2] from con- and capere (“to take”),^[3] from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grasp”).^[3] It is related to conceive and conception.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Thought, opinion, frame of mind: 1556,^[2][5][6] in the same senses as conceit.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

In some 16th-century uses it was a refashioning of conceit, perhaps to avoid the bad connotations that had begun to cling to that word.^[3] In logic and philosophy, the product of the faculty of conception, a general idea of a class of objects, is from 1663.^[6] The weakened sense, a general idea or plan, especially in marketing and the media, is from 1956,^[6] and the American Heritage Dictionary notes that this loose use sounds most at home in entertainment and advertising.^[7] Combinations such as concept album and concept car are later.^[8]

Timeline

• 1556 – thought, opinion.^[2][6]
• 1663 – in logic, a general notion.^[6]
• 1956 – a plan or idea, in marketing.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A general idea derived from particular instances; an abstract notion.
2. Something conceived in the mind; a thought.
3. A plan or scheme, especially a new idea for a product: a new restaurant concept.

Word family

• conceptor
• high-concept
• self-concept
• concept art

Related words

• conceive
• conceptual
• misconceive
• misconception
• conception
• conceit
• capture
• accept

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster