convert

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkɑn.vɚt/, /kənˈvɝt/; /ˈkɒn.vət/, /kənˈvɜːt/ (UK)^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English converten, borrowed from Old French convertir (“to turn round; change; win over”),^[2][3][4] from Vulgar Latin *convertire, from Latin convertere (“to turn around, transform”),^[3][5] from com-, intensive, and vertere (“to turn”) (see verse),^[2][3] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to turn, bend”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To turn from one religion to another, especially to Christianity: about 1300.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Old English glossed the Latin verb with gecyrran, to turn.^[3] To turn a thing about, give it a different direction, is from 1382,^[6] and to change into another form or substance from the late 14th century.^[3] To turn to another use is from the late 15th century.^[3] The noun, a person who has changed religion, is from 1561 (the 1560s),^[2][3][4] replacing earlier convers (before 1325, in the Cursor Mundi).^[2][3] A person converted to another opinion is from the 1640s.^[3] To express a quantity in other units is a mathematical sense.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – to change religion.^[3]
• before 1325 – convers (noun).^[2]
• late 14th century – to transform.^[3]
• 1561 – convert (noun).^[2]
• 1640s – a convert to an opinion.^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To change into another form, substance or state; to transform.
2. To adapt to a different use or purpose.
3. To persuade someone to adopt a religion or belief, or to adopt one.
4. To exchange for something of equal value, as one currency for another.

Noun

1. A person who has been converted, especially to a religion or belief.

Word family

• convertive
• convertor
• interconvert
• preconvert
• reconvert
• converter
• convertible

Related words

• conversion
• converse
• verse
• version
• vertex

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin