Etymologically
Log in

embark

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 16:34. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ɪmˈbɑːk/, /ɛmˈbɑːk/[1]
  • US: /ɪmˈbɑɹk/, /ɛmˈbɑɹk/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French embarquer,[2][3][4][5][6] formed from en- (“in”) and barque (“small ship”), the source of bark and barque.[3][4][5][7][8] The OED calls the verb a common Romance word, compare Italian imbarcare, Spanish embarcar and Portuguese embarcar, from Late Latin imbarcō, from in- and barca (“small boat”).[2][9][10] Merriam-Webster and Collins take the French verb from Old Occitan embarcar,[6][11] and Dictionary.com from Spanish.[12] Ayto notes that barca is probably related to barge.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To put on board a ship: 1550, in Thomas Nicolls's translation of Thucydides, where it is also used reflexively, to go on board.[2] Etymonline dates the transitive verb to the 1540s and the intransitive to the 1570s,[4] and Merriam-Webster gives 1533 for the intransitive sense.[6]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive sense, to go on board a ship, took over from the reflexive one, which the OED records until 1616.[2] Weekley notes that the figurative use, to embark on an enterprise, appeared early, like to launch a scheme;[13] the OED has the verb for investing money or involving a person in an undertaking from 1584,[2] and for engaging in a business, war or the like from 1647.[2][7] Johnson (1755) gave "to put on shipboard" as the first sense.[14] The same ships could later be said to embark their passengers, receiving them on board (1885),[2] and the verb came to be used of aircraft as well as boats.[7][6] The opposite, disembark, is also from the 16th century,[8] and the noun embarkation from about 1645.[3]

Timeline

  • 1533 – to go on board a boat.[6]
  • 1550 – to put on board ship.[2]
  • 1584 – to invest money or involve a person in an enterprise.[2]
  • before 1586 – to go on board ship, in Sidney's Arcadia.[2]
  • c. 1645 – the noun embarkation.[3]
  • 1647 – to engage in an undertaking.[2]
  • 1885 – of a ship, to take on board.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To go on board a ship or aircraft: The passengers embarked at dawn.[11][6][7]
  2. To put or take people or goods on board a ship or aircraft.[6][7][2]
  3. To begin or engage in a new venture or course of action, usually with on or upon: She embarked on a career in medicine.[11][6][7]
  4. To invest money in an undertaking, or to involve a person in one.[6][7][2]

Word family

  • embarkation
  • embarkment
  • reembark
  • disembark
  • barque
  • barge
  • embarcadero

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.