Etymologically
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emit

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Pronunciation

  • /iˈmɪt/, /ɪˈmɪt/[1]

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

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