elicit

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ēlicitus (“drawn forth”), the past participle of ēliciō (“to draw out, draw forth”),^[2][3][4][5] the English verb being formed on the Latin participial stem.^[2][6] The Latin verb is formed from ē- (“out”), a form of ex- used before l, and -liciō, the combining form of laciō (“to entice, lure, deceive”).^[4][3][7] According to the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English, the Latin verb meant to draw something out by trickery or magic.^[6][8] The simple verb is related to laqueus (“noose, snare”), the source of lace,^[3][5] and Klein compares dēliciae (“delight, charm”), behind delicious and delight;^[5] the change of the Latin vowel a to i in the compound is regular.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the adjective, used in philosophy of an act that comes directly from an active power of the mind or will, as opposed to one that is commanded: 1624, in a reply by Bishop F. White to the Jesuit Fisher.^[2][6] The verb, "to draw forth what is latent or potential into existence", follows in 1641, in J. Jackson's True Evangelical Temper,^[2][4] and Etymonline dates it to the 1640s.^[3] Merriam-Webster gives an earlier first use, 1605, for one of the verb's senses.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Barnhart takes the verb as developed from the earlier adjective.^[4][10] The adjective belonged to the language of scholastic philosophy, where an elicit act of the will was contrasted with an imperate one;^[2][9] Johnson (1755) entered only the adjective, defined as brought from possibility into real existence,^[11] and the OED's record of it ends in 1751.^[2] The verb meanwhile moved from drawing out what is latent (1641) to drawing out principles or truths from data, and information from a person by questioning (before 1676, in M. Hale).^[2] The sense now most common, to draw out a response or reaction from someone, is recorded only from 1822, in the Quarterly Review;^[2] dictionaries now label the older sense of drawing something latent into existence archaic.^[12][13]

Timeline

• 1624 – adjective, of an act, coming directly from the will (obsolete by 1751).^[2]
• 1641 – verb, to draw forth what is latent into existence.^[2][4] Etymonline dates the verb to the 1640s.^[3]
• 1656 – elicitation, in Hobbes.^[4]
• before 1676 – to bring out truths from data; to draw information from a person.^[2]
• 1822 – to evoke a response or reaction from someone.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To draw out or evoke a response or reaction: The proposal elicited a storm of complaints.^[9][14][12]
2. To bring out information or the truth, especially by questioning: The lawyer slowly elicited the facts from the witness.^[14][2][9]
3. (archaic) To draw forth something latent or potential into existence.^[12][13][2]

Adjective

1. (obsolete, 1624–1751) In philosophy, of an act: coming directly from the will, as opposed to one that is commanded.^[2][9][6]

Word family

• elicitation
• elicitor
• unelicited

Related words

• lace
• delight
• delicious
• illicit

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins