emit

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ēmittō (“to send forth”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed from ē- (“out”), a form of ex-,^[3][4][7] and mittō (“to send, let go”).^[2][3][8][6] The Latin verb is also the source of emission and emissary,^[8][9][10] and through mittō the word is related to mission.^[3][5] Merriam-Webster refers mittō further to smite.^[6][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To give off or throw out vapours, light, heat, gases or the like: 1626, in Francis Bacon's Sylva Sylvarum.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates the verb to 1598,^[6][12] and Etymonline and Dictionary.com to the 1620s.^[3][13]

Semantic evolution

The word was used from the 1640s of discharging a liquid or exuding juices,^[2] and between 1660 and 1756 of a plant throwing out an offshoot.^[2] In the 17th century it was also used for issuing books and documents (1650–1847), and of issuing edicts, and later paper money, with authority (1672);^[2] the currency sense is still current.^[14][6][15] Swift used it of letting fly a missile (1711).^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as to send forth, to let go, or to give vent to.^[16] The sense of giving forth a sound appears in 1826, and that of uttering a statement or opinion in 1753.^[2] In modern physics it is used of giving off radiation or particles.^[14][6]

Timeline

• 1626 – to give off light, heat, gases or the like, in Bacon.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates the verb to 1598.^[6]
• 1646 – to discharge a liquid; to exude.^[2]
• 1650 – to issue or publish books or documents (obsolete by 1847).^[2]
• 1660 – to throw out as an offshoot (obsolete by 1756).^[2]
• 1672 – to issue formally, now especially paper money.^[2]
• 1711 – to let fly a missile (obsolete by 1720).^[2]
• 1753 – to utter a statement or opinion.^[2]
• 1826 – to give forth a sound.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To give off or send out light, heat, gas, radiation or particles: The old stove emits a faint smell of smoke.^[14][6][2]
2. To send out or discharge a liquid or other matter.^[6][2]
3. To give out a sound; to utter: The dog emitted a low growl.^[14][6][2]
4. To express an opinion or statement.^[2][17]
5. To put money into circulation; to issue with authority.^{[14][6][2][15]}
6. (obsolete, 1650–1847) To publish.^[2][12]

Word family

• emitter
• unemitted
• reemit

Related words

• emission
• emissary
• mission
• transmit
• admit
• omit

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 p q r s t u v 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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
12. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
14. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ a b Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West
16. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
17. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin