concession

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French concession or directly from Latin concessiō (“an allowing, conceding”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} The French word is recorded in Old French from about 1264,^[4] and in Anglo-Norman from 1325.^[9] The Latin noun is formed from concessus, the past participle of concēdō (“to give way, yield; agree”), the source of concede,^{[10][3][8][4]} from con-, here perhaps an intensive, and cēdō (“to go, give way”), from Proto-Indo-European *ked- (“to go, yield”).^[3] The OED compares Old Occitan concession, Catalan concessió, Spanish concesión, Portuguese conçessão and Italian concessione.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of granting or yielding something asked or required: 1464 according to Barnhart,^[2][11] the mid-15th century in Etymonline,^[3] and 1473–4 in the Rolls of Parliament in the OED.^[4] Etymonline notes that it was used especially in argument.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word soon passed from the act to the thing granted: an allowance or privilege yielded, especially in partial answer to demands, from about 1567,^[4] and the point yielded in an argument from the 1610s.^[3] A grant of land by a government is recorded from 1536 in the OED,^[4] though Barnhart and Etymonline date it to the 1650s.^[2][3] In rhetoric it was the surrender of a disputed point in order to build a stronger argument (1572).^[4] In Canada a concession was a division of a township granted in lots (1764), and in the 19th century the word was used of an enclave in a trading city governed by a foreign power (1835).^[4] The sense of a right granted to a company to carry on a business is from 1837 in the OED and 1856 in Barnhart and Etymonline;^[4][2][3] Weekley and Etymonline say it developed in French, and Weekley notes that the OED's first record of it concerns the Suez Canal.^[12][3] In North America it came to mean a lease of part of a premises for a small business (1897 or 1910), hence concession stand; since 1947 the word has also meant an item sold there.^[3][4] In British use a concession is a reduced price for a group such as students or pensioners (1934); since 1988 it has also meant a person entitled to one.^[4][13] Concessionaire was borrowed in 1862 from French.^[2]

Timeline

• 1464 – the act of granting or yielding.^[2]
• 1473 – the act of granting or yielding (OED's first record).^[4]
• 1536 – a grant of land by a government.^[4]
• c. 1567 – an allowance or privilege granted.^[4]
• 1572 – rhetoric, the yielding of a point to strengthen an argument.^[4]
• 1764 – in Canada, a division of a township.^[4]
• 1837 – a right granted to a company to operate.^[4]
• 1910 – a lease of part of a premises for a small business (North America).^[4]
• 1934 – a reduced price for certain groups (British).^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of conceding or yielding, especially to a demand, claim or argument: The management made no concession to the strikers.^[5][13][4]
2. Something conceded, such as a point given up in an argument or a demand partly met.^[13][5][4]
3. A grant of land, property or rights by a government or other authority.^[13][4]
4. A right granted to operate a business on someone else's premises, or the business itself, such as a concession stand.^[4][13]
5. (chiefly British) A reduced price for a ticket or fare for certain groups, such as students or pensioners.^[13][4]
6. (Canada) A division of a township granted in lots.^[4]

Word family

• concessional
• concessionary
• nonconcession
• concessionaire
• concessioner
• concession road

Related words

• concede
• concessive
• cede
• cession
• accede

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins