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conscious

Etymology and origin of the English word conscious

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1573
Borrowed from
Latin conscius
Ultimate origin
Latin (conscius)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin conscius
English conscious

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈkɑn.ʃəs/; /ˈkɒn.ʃəs/, /ˈkɒntʃəs/ (UK)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin conscius (“knowing something with others; knowing in oneself”),[2][3][4][5] from cōnscīre (“to be mutually aware”), from com- (“with; thoroughly”) and scīre (“to know”) (see science).[3][2] The Latin word was probably a loan-translation of Greek συνειδώς (suneidṓs).[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Knowing, privy to: 1601, in Ben Jonson's Poetaster;[2][6] about 1600 in Etymonline.[3] MWU dates it to 1573.[4] NODE gives the first sense as aware of wrongdoing.[7]

Semantic evolution

In Latin the sense moved from knowing along with others to privy to a crime, guilty and also inwardly aware.[2] In English conscious to oneself, having inward witness, is from 1620,[6] and knowing or perceiving within oneself, aware, from 1632 (the 1630s in Etymonline), perhaps shortened from it.[2][3] Having guilty knowledge is from 1652,[6] and aware of a fact from the 1650s.[3] Awake and having the use of one's faculties is from 1837.[3] Consciousness is from 1632.[2]

Timeline

  • 1573 – first use (MWU).[4]
  • 1601 – privy to.[2][6]
  • 1620 – conscious to oneself.[6]
  • 1632 – inwardly aware.[2]
  • 1837 – awake.[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Aware of one's surroundings and able to think and feel; awake.
  2. (conscious of) Aware of or noticing something.
  3. Done deliberately; intentional: a conscious decision.
  4. Concerned with or attentive to something: fashion-conscious.

Noun

  1. (the conscious) The part of the mind that is aware.

Word family

  • consciously
  • consciousness
  • preconscious
  • self-conscious
  • subconscious
  • foreconscious
  • hyperconscious
  • nonconscious

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e 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

“Conscious.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/conscious. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

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