Etymologically
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construction

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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
  • 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