construction

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kənˈstrʌk.ʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English construccioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Middle French construction,^[3][4] from Latin constructiō (“a putting together, a building”),^[2][5] a noun of action from constructus, the past participle of construere (“to pile up together, build”),^[2][4] from com- “together” and struere (“to pile up”).^[2] Etymonline takes struere to Proto-Indo-European *streu-, an extended form of the root *stere- “to spread”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of construing, the way of understanding the arrangement of words when translating: late 14th century;^[2][3] this sense, which goes with construe, is now obsolete.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the construing of words came “the interpreting of a text” in the late 15th century and the explanation of the words of a legal document,^[2] a sense still alive in parliamentary language (“what construction do you put on this clause?”).^[2] The sense “act of building or making” is from the early 15th century,^[2] and the OED's earliest example of it is dated 1432–50.^[6] In geometry, the drawing of a figure to solve a problem is from 1570.^[6] The way in which a thing is built is from 1707,^[2][6] and a thing constructed, a structure, from 1796.^[2] Johnson (1755) gave first “the act of building” and then “the form of building; structure”.^[7] Modern dictionaries add the building industry as a whole, and in art a sculpture put together from separate pieces of different materials.^[8][4]

Timeline

• late 14th century – the construing of words.^[2]
• 1432–50 – the act of building or framing.^[6]
• late 15th century – interpretation of a text.^[2]
• 1570 – a geometrical construction.^[6]
• 1707 – manner in which a thing is built.^[2][6]
• 1796 – a structure.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act or process of building something.
2. The building industry: work in construction.
3. The way in which something is built: of brick construction.
4. A structure or other built thing.
5. (grammar) The arrangement of words in a sentence; a group of words so arranged.
6. An interpretation or explanation given to a statement or text.
7. (art) A work assembled from various materials.

Word family

• constructional
• constructionally
• preconstruction
• constructionist
• deconstruction
• misconstruction
• reconstruction
• construction paper

Related words

• construct
• construe
• structure
• destruction
• instruct
• obstruct

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 i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster