detection

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dɪˈtɛk.ʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dētēctiō (“an uncovering, revealing”), dētēctiōnem, a Late Latin noun^[2][3][4] from dētegere, to uncover, expose, figuratively to discover, reveal (see detect),^[2] from dē-, un-, off, and tegere, to cover,^[2] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“to cover”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Accusation, the exposure of what is concealed: 1471 in the OED, the early 15th century in Etymonline; now obsolete.^[5][2][6]

Semantic evolution

Discovery by search or observation, especially finding out and bringing to light, is from the 1610s (1619 in the OED).^[2][5] In electronics, obtaining a signal from a carrier wave, demodulation, is from 1906.^[5][7]

Timeline

• 1471 – exposure, accusation.^[5]
• 1619 – discovery.^[5]
• 1906 – demodulation.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act or process of detecting; discovery: detection of crime.
2. (electronics) The extraction of information from a modulated wave; demodulation.

Related words

• detect
• detective
• detector
• protect
• tegument

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin