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conscience

Etymology and origin of the English word conscience

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
before 1200
Borrowed from
Old French conscience
Ultimate origin
Latin (conscientia)

Pronunciation

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

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French conscience (“conscience, innermost thoughts”),[2][3][4] a learned borrowing of Latin cōnscientia, joint knowledge, consciousness, moral sense,[2][3][5] from cōnsciēns, present participle of cōnscīre, to know well, be conscious of wrong,[2][3] from con-, with, thoroughly, and scīre, to know (see science).[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The faculty of knowing what is right, especially in Christian ethics: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle;[2] about 1200 in Etymonline.[3]

Semantic evolution

Latin cōnscientia is probably a loan translation of Greek suneídēsis, “with-knowledge”,[2][3] and was itself translated as German Gewissen, the model for Swedish samvete, and as Middle English inwit, as in the Ayenbite of Inwyt, “Remorse of Conscience”.[2] In Middle English conscience also meant inward knowledge or consciousness (about 1325) and inmost thought (about 1340), senses now obsolete.[6][7] Awareness of whether one's acts match one's ideal of right is the later general sense.[3] Conscientious is from the 17th century.[4]

Timeline

  • before 1200 – moral sense.[2]
  • c. 1325 – inward knowledge (obsolete).[6]
  • c. 1340 – inmost thought (obsolete).[6]
  • 17th century – conscientious.[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The inner sense of right and wrong that guides a person's thoughts and actions.
  2. A feeling of guilt or obligation: a guilty conscience.
  3. in all conscience: in fairness.

Word family

  • conscienceless
  • consciencelessly
  • consciencelessness
  • conscientious
  • conscience money
  • conscience clause

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 h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Conscience.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/conscience. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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