Etymologically
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contraction

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /kənˈtɹækʃn̩/, /kɒn-/[1]
  • US: /kənˈtɹækʃ(ə)n/[1]

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

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