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emphasis

Etymology and origin of the English word emphasis

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1573
Borrowed from
Latin emphasis
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (ἔμφασις)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin emphasis
English emphasis

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈɛmfəsɪs/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin emphasis,[2][3] from Ancient Greek ἔμφασις (émphasis, “appearance; in rhetoric, significance, implied meaning”),[2][3][4] from ἐμφαίνω (emphaínein, “to show, exhibit”), from ἐν (en, “in”) and φαίνω (phaínein, “to show”) (see fantasy).[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Vigour or intensity of expression: 1573 in the OED and Barnhart, the 1570s in Etymonline.[6][2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Greek and Latin rhetoric it meant a figure of speech that implies more than is said, the original English sense in NODE, recorded in 1589.[4][6] From this came the delivery suited to suggestive expression, rhetorical stress, and then any extra stress of voice on a word.[3] Intensity of feeling or action is from 1602,[6] and prominence or importance given to something is a 19th-century sense.[5] Emphatic is from 1708 and emphasize from 1828.[2]

Timeline

  • 1573 – intensity of expression.[6][2]
  • 1589 – the rhetorical figure.[6]
  • 1602 – intensity of feeling.[6]
  • 1708 – emphatic.[2]
  • 1828 – emphasize.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Special importance or value given to something.
  2. Extra force given to a word or syllable in speaking; stress.
  3. Intensity of expression or feeling.

Word family

  • misemphasis
  • overemphasis
  • preemphasis
  • reemphasis
  • superemphasis
  • underemphasis
  • de-emphasis

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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 Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Emphasis.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/emphasis. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·