create

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kriˈeɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English createn,^[2][3] borrowed from Latin creātus, the past participle of creāre (“to make, bring forth, produce, beget”),^[4][5][6] related to crēscere (“to arise, grow”) and to the goddess Ceres,^[4][5] from Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“to grow”).^[4][2] De Vaan writes that the original meaning of creāre was “to make grow”.^[4] In English it was first used as a past participle, creat “created”, extended with -ed.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of God, “to bring into being”: about 1380, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius,^[5] or about 1386.^[8] Etymonline dates the verb to the early 15th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From God's creation the verb widened to making or forming anything, including institutions and laws, from 1592,^[8] and to causing or giving rise to a condition from 1599.^[8] To create a person a peer or knight, investing them with a rank, is from about 1460.^[8] An actor creates a role by being the first to play it, from 1882,^[8] and a designer creates a costume or dish from 1930.^[8] In British slang, “to make a fuss” is from 1919.^[8] In Yorkshire and Lincolnshire dialect, dust was said to create, “gather, settle”.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – of God, to bring into being.^[5]
• c. 1390 – creation.^[5]
• c. 1460 – to invest with a rank.^[8]
• 1592 – to make or form anything.^[8]
• 1599 – to give rise to.^[8]
• 1678 – creative.^[5]
• 1882 – of an actor, to create a role.^[8]
• 1919 – to make a fuss (slang).^[8]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To bring into existence.
2. To give rise to; to produce: create problems.
3. To make something through artistic or imaginative effort.
4. To give someone a title or rank: was created a baron.
5. (British slang) To make a fuss.

Word family

• creatable
• discreate
• increate
• miscreate

Related words

• creation
• creationism
• creative
• creativity
• creator
• creatural
• creature
• creaturely
• procreate
• recreate
• re-create
• recreation
• crescent
• increase
• Ceres
• cereal

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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)