design

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dɪˈzaɪn/^[1]

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English designen, borrowed from Latin dēsignāre (“to mark out, trace out, denote, devise”),^[2][3][4] partly through French désigner,^[5][6][7] formed from dē- (“out”) and signāre (“to mark”),^[2][3] from signum (“mark, sign”), the source of sign.^[2][3] The noun is from earlier French desseing (“purpose, project, design”), from desseigner,^[3][5][7] from Italian disegnare (“to draw, sketch; to plan”).^[5][7][8] Etymonline notes that Italian developed both the senses “to contrive, intend” and “to draw”, which French took in different forms and passed on to English, which uses design for all of them.^[3] Modern French distinguishes dessein (“plan, scheme”) from dessin (“drawing”).^[7] It is related to designate.^[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To shape or fashion something: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew,^[2] or the late 14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The verb meant “to plan or outline, form a scheme” from the 1540s,^[3] or 1548 in the OED.^[10] In the 16th and 17th centuries it was also used in the senses now given to designate, “to point out, appoint”.^[3][10] “To draw the outline of”, especially of a proposed work, is from the 1630s, and “to plan and execute with artistic skill” from the 1660s.^[3] The noun meant a plan or scheme in the mind from the 1580s,^[3] first in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost in 1588,^[2] or 1565 according to Merriam-Webster.^[8] A purpose or intention is from 1588,^[10] and by design from 1628.^[10] A plan to harm someone, as in designs on, is from 1704.^[3][10] Hoad dates the sense “plan for a work of art” to the 17th century.^[11] The intransitive sense “to do original work in a graphic art” is by 1854.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1398 – verb, to shape (Trevisa).^[2]
• 1540s – verb, to plan.^[3]
• 1588 – noun, a purpose (Shakespeare).^[2][10]
• 1628 – by design.^[10]
• 1630s – verb, to draw the outline of.^[3]
• 17th century – a plan for a work of art.^[11]
• 1704 – a harmful scheme.^[3]
• 1854 – verb, to work as a designer.^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To conceive or plan in the mind; to devise.
2. To draw up plans for something, as a building or garment.
3. To create or make for a particular purpose.
4. To intend.

Noun

1. A drawing or sketch; a detailed plan for making something.
2. The arrangement of parts or details: the design of the engine.
3. The art of designing.
4. A decorative pattern.
5. A purpose or intention; a scheme: by design.

Word family

• designable
• designedly
• designer
• designment
• designed
• outdesign
• overdesign
• predesign

Related words

• designate
• sign
• signal
• signature

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ 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
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press