connotation

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin connotātiō (“a marking along with”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} a noun of action from connotō (“to signify in addition”),^[3][2] a term of medieval logic,^[3] formed from Latin com- (“with, together”) and notō (“to mark, note”), from nota (“mark, sign”).^[3] The OED adds that French has the same word.^[2] It is related to connote, note and annotation.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A symptom accompanying a disease, in a Middle English medical text of before 1425 translated from Chauliac;^[7][3] the Shorter Oxford records this sense only in late Middle English.^[5] The current sense, the inclusion in a word's meaning of something besides what it primarily denotes, is first recorded in 1532, in Thomas More's Confutation of Tyndale.^[2][4][3]

Semantic evolution

Logicians of the 17th century used the word for the subject "connoted" by a term that signifies an attribute, a sense recorded from 1662 to 1887;^[2] John Stuart Mill and later logicians used it instead for the attribute or set of attributes connoted by a term.^[2] Etymonline credits the meaning "that which constitutes the meaning of a word" (1829) to James Mill, the father of John Stuart Mill.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined it as the implication of something besides itself, quoting Hale.^[8] From the 1860s the word came into general use for the sum of what a word implies (1865) and for what is implied in a word besides its primary meaning (1867).^[2]

Timeline

• before 1425 – a symptom accompanying a disease (obsolete).^[7][5]
• 1532 – the signifying of something in addition to the primary meaning; implication.^[2][4]
• 1662 – in logic, the subject connoted by a term (obsolete by 1887).^[2]
• before 1676 – a mutual relation (obsolete).^[2]
• 1829 – that which constitutes the meaning of a word, in James Mill.^[3]
• 1865 – the sum of what a word implies; meaning.^[2]
• 1867 – that which a word implies besides its primary meaning.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An idea or feeling that a word or thing suggests in addition to its literal meaning: For many people the word "cellar" has connotations of damp and darkness.^[9][4][10]
2. The act or process of connoting.^[9][10]
3. (logic) The set of attributes that make up the meaning of a term; intension.^[9][10][2]
4. (obsolete) A symptom accompanying a disease.^[7][5]

Word family

• connotative
• connotatively
• connotational

Related words

• connote
• denotation
• annotation
• note

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt