conception

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English concepcioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman concepcioun or concepcion,^[4][5][2][3] and partly directly from Latin conceptiō (“a comprehending; conception”).^[4][6][7] The Latin noun was formed from conceptus, the past participle of concipiō (“to take in and hold; to become pregnant”), the source of conceive,^[5][3][8][9] which is made up of con-, here perhaps intensive, and a form of capiō (“to take”),^[5] from the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p- (“to grasp”).^[5] In Anglo-Norman the word is recorded from the second quarter of the 12th century for the beginning of pregnancy,^[10] originally with reference to the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.^[4][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of conceiving offspring in the womb, or of being conceived: about 1350, in the poems of William of Shoreham;^[4] Etymonline dates it to the early 14th century,^[5] Weekley to about 1300, first of the Immaculate Conception,^[11] and Hoad to the 13th century.^[9] Dictionary.com gives 1300–50.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word was first used of pregnancy, also with reference to the feast of the Conception in the Church calendar.^[5] The mental sense, the act or power of forming ideas, followed in the late 14th century, in Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon,^[4][5] by the same metaphor as the verb conceive.^[9] An idea or mental image itself, that which is conceived in the mind, is recorded from 1526,^[4][5] and an opinion or view from 1603.^[4] Etymonline dates the sense "general notion" to 1785.^[5] In philosophy Hobbes used it in 1650 for forming an idea of a particular thing,^[4] and Coleridge in 1818 for grasping a general concept.^[4] The figurative sense, the first coming into being of something, is recorded from 1613.^[4][12] The sense "embryo, offspring" was used from before 1398 to 1821 and is now obsolete.^[4]

Timeline

• c1350 – conceiving in the womb.^[4][5]
• a1387 – the forming of ideas in the mind.^[4][5]
• a1398–1821 – an embryo or offspring (obsolete).^[4]
• a1400 – the Conception of the Virgin Mary.^[4]
• 1526 – an idea, a mental image.^[4][5]
• 1603 – an opinion or notion.^[4]
• 1613 – a beginning, coming into being.^[4]
• 1785 – a general notion.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act of conceiving a child; the fertilization of an egg leading to pregnancy.
2. The forming of ideas; the ability to imagine or understand something.
3. An idea, notion or plan; the way in which something is understood: Her conception of a good holiday involves no beaches at all.
4. The origin or beginning of something: The project was underfunded from its conception.

Word family

• conceptional
• conceptive
• postconception
• preconception

Related words

• conceive
• concept
• contraception
• capture
• receive

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins