Etymologically
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effect

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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

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