conduction

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin conductiō (“a bringing together; a hiring”),^[2][3][4][5] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives borrowed from Middle French conduction (“conducting, hiring”) as its immediate source,^[6] while Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford allow both French and Latin.^[7][8] The OED notes that French has had the word since the 13th century.^[2] The Latin noun is formed on conductus, the past participle of condūcō (“to lead or bring together; to hire”),^[6][5][7][3] from com- (“with, together”) and dūcō (“to lead”), from Proto-Indo-European *deuk- (“to lead”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Hiring: 1538, in the Aberdeen Register, as quoted in Jamieson's Dictionary.^[2] The sense "leading, guidance" follows in an Act of Henry VIII of 1541,^[2][6] and Etymonline's first date, the 1540s, is for that sense.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The OED groups the senses under leading, conveyance and hiring.^[2] The early senses are those of conduct, and all of them died out: leadership, especially military command (1551–1642), the management of an affair (1565–1841) and skill in leading (1579–1614).^[2] What survived is the idea of conveying something through a channel, first of liquids, in a work by Brerewood from before 1613,^[2][7] later especially of sap in plants.^[2][6] In 1814 W. C. Wells applied it to heat, and it came to cover electricity and nerve impulses too, which the OED calls the chief current sense.^[2][7] Hiring lasted only as a term of Roman law.^[2][8]

Timeline

• 1538 – hiring (later only in Roman law).^[2]
• 1541 – leading, guidance (obsolete by 1656).^[2][6]
• 1551 – leadership, military or naval command (obsolete by 1642).^[2]
• 1565 – the management of an affair (obsolete by 1841).^[2]
• 1579 – skill in leading or managing (obsolete by 1614).^[2]
• before 1613 – the conveying of a liquid through a channel or pipe.^[2][7]
• 1814 – the transmission of heat, electricity or nerve impulses through a substance.^[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The transfer of heat or electricity through a substance from particle to particle, without any flow of the substance itself, as distinct from convection: The spoon's handle grew hot by conduction.^[9][6][2]
2. The transmission of an impulse along a nerve fibre.^[9][2]
3. The act of conveying something, such as water through a pipe.^[9][6][2]
4. The movement of water and soluble foods from one part of a plant to another; translocation.^[6][2]
5. (physics) Another name for conductivity.^[9]
6. (obsolete except in Roman law, 1538–1880) Hiring.^[2][8][6]
7. (archaic) Conduct, management or skill in leading.^[6][2][8]

Word family

• conductional
• conduction band

Related words

• conduct
• conduce
• conductor
• conductivity
• duct

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins