effect

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪˈfekt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English effect,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French effect (also efet, modern French effet) and directly borrowed from Latin effectus (“accomplishment, performance”),^[4][3][5] from the past participle of efficere (“to work out, accomplish”),^[4][2] from ex- (“out”) and the combining form of facere (“to make, to do”),^[4][3][2] from Proto-Indo-European *dhē- (“to set, put”).^[2][4] The verb is from the noun.^[3][6] The opposite is defect.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Conclusion, realization”: probably about 1350;^[3] Etymonline gives “execution or completion of an act” from the mid-14th century.^[4] The sense “result” is from about 1385, in Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From the late 14th century the word meant the power to produce a result, efficacy, and in astrology the influence of a heavenly body,^[4] as well as a consequence or result.^[4][8] “Purpose, intent” is from the early 15th century.^[4] It also meant “reality, fact”, hence in effect, originally “in fact, really”, from the late 14th century.^[4] Hoad dates the sense “impression” to the 17th century and the plural effects, “goods, belongings”, to the 18th.^[9] In science an effect is a phenomenon named after its discoverer or cause, from 1881.^[8] The verb, “to bring about”, is from 1589;^[3][8] earlier uses from 1494 are a confusion with affect.^[3][8] Sound effects and special effects belong to the theatre, radio and film.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1350 – conclusion, realization.^[3]
• c. 1385 – a result.^[3]
• late 14th century – power to produce a result, and in effect.^[4]
• early 15th century – purpose, intent.^[4]
• 1494 – verb, confused with affect.^[8]
• 1589 – verb, to bring about.^[3][8]
• 18th century – effects, belongings.^[9]
• 1881 – a phenomenon in physics.^[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A change or result produced by a cause.
2. The power to produce a result; influence.
3. The state of being in force: the law takes effect today.
4. An impression produced on the mind or senses: for effect.
5. (plural) Personal belongings.
6. (physics) A phenomenon, often named after its discoverer: the Doppler effect.
7. (usually plural) Lighting, sounds or images used to create an illusion in a play or film.

Verb

1. To bring about; to cause to happen.

Word family

• effecter
• effectible

Related words

• feckless
• effective
• effector
• effectual
• effectuate
• efficacious
• efficacity
• efficacy
• efficiency
• efficient
• affect
• defect
• infect
• perfect
• fact

Usage notes

Effect as a verb means “to bring about” (effect a change), while affect means “to influence” (affect the outcome), and the two have been confused since the 15th century.^[10][8] Of nouns for something brought about by a cause, effect is the most general, while consequence and result imply a more direct link, and outcome a final one.^[10]

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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin