contraction

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English contraccioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French contraction and directly borrowed from Latin contractiō (“a drawing together, a shortening”),^{[3][2][4][5][6]} a noun of action from contractus, the past participle of contrahō (“to draw together”).^[7][6][8][3] The Latin verb is formed from com- (“together”) and trahō (“to draw”),^[3][9] and is also the source of contract.^[8][9] The French noun is recorded from the 13th century.^[6][3] The OED dates the English word only from 1582,^[6] but the Middle English Dictionary has quotations from about 1425.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A contraction or spasm of muscles, and constriction or shrinking: about 1425, in the Middle English translation of Guy de Chauliac's surgery and in Arderne's treatise on fistula.^[2] Etymonline also gives an early 15th-century sense, the making of a contract, especially of marriage.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word took its meanings from both senses of the verb contract.^[6] From the sense "to draw together" came the shortening of a muscle in medicine,^[2][4] and the general sense of decrease in size, length or volume followed in 1589.^[6][3] From the sense "to make an agreement" came the making of a contract, especially of marriage, recorded from 1598 and now rare,^[6][4] and later the incurring of a disease or habit (1683) and of a debt (1825).^[6][3] The figurative senses of restriction and of narrowness of mind followed in the 17th and 18th centuries.^[6] In grammar a contraction was the shortening of a word or syllable from 1706, and a word so shortened from 1755,^[3] although the Shorter Oxford dates the linguistic sense to the early 18th century.^[4] The uterine contractions of labour are attested from 1962.^[3] Johnson (1755) listed the act of shortening, the act of shrinking, and the shortening of a word.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – spasm of muscles; shrinking.^[2]
• early 15th century – the making of a contract, especially of marriage.^[3]
• 1589 – decrease in length, extent or volume.^[6]
• 1598 – the action of contracting marriage.^[6]
• 1683 – the catching of a disease or habit.^[6][3]
• 1706 – the shortening of a word in pronunciation or writing.^[3]
• 1755 – a contracted word.^[3]
• 1825 – the incurring of a debt.^[6]
• 1871 – in pathology, a morbid shortening of a muscle.^[6]
• 1962 – contractions of the uterus in labour.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or process of becoming smaller, shorter or tighter, or the state of being contracted: the contraction of metal as it cools.^{[11][7][9][4]}
2. The shortening and tightening of a muscle; especially, one of the regular tightenings of the uterus during childbirth.^[11][9][4]
3. A shortened form of a word or phrase made by leaving out sounds or letters, such as can't for cannot; also the making of such a form.^[11][9][4]
4. The act of incurring a debt or catching a disease.^[4][6]
5. A decrease in amount or scope, as of economic activity.^[7][6]
6. (now rare) The making of a contract, especially of marriage.^[4][6][7]

Word family

• contractional
• contractive
• contractionary
• noncontraction
• overcontraction
• recontraction

Related words

• contract
• contracted
• contractile
• contractor
• contractual
• contracture
• extract
• retract
• tractile
• traction
• tract
• attraction
• abstraction

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins