empowerment

Etymology

It is formed from English empower + -ment.^[2][3] The verb empower, recorded from 1641, is made of the prefix em- (also im-) and the noun power.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The state of being empowered, or the act of empowering: 1651, in J. Graunt's Truths Defender.^[2] The OED's first edition had dated the word only from 1849,^[4] and Etymonline gives 1814 for the sense "authorization, as by law".^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century the word often referred to the authority to take legal action, and in the early 20th century it was often used in a spiritual sense.^[3] Its modern social and political use, of women, minorities and other groups taking control of their economic opportunities and claiming their rights, dates by 1967 from discussions of the Black Power movement: a report of that year quotes a conference called "not to deal with the deficiencies of the white community but with the empowerment of black people".^[3] The OED now gives as its chief sense gaining more control over one's own life or circumstances,^[2] and Etymonline dates the wide popularity of empower to the 1980s.^[3] In South Africa the word names policies giving Black people and others disadvantaged under apartheid special opportunities in work and training.^[5] In the United States an Empowerment Zone is an area where public funds and tax incentives encourage private investment, as in Upper Manhattan and the South Bronx.^[6]

Timeline

• 1651 – the state or fact of being empowered.^[2]
• 1814 – authorization, as by law.^[3]
• 1849 – first date in the OED's first edition.^[4]
• 1967 – of black people taking control of their opportunities and rights.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The giving or delegation of power or authority; authorization.^[5][2][3]
2. The act of making someone able to do something; enablement.^[5][2]
3. The process of gaining more control over one's own life and circumstances, especially by a group that has been disadvantaged: the empowerment of rural women.^[2][3]
4. (South Africa) A policy of giving special opportunities in employment and training to Black people and others disadvantaged under apartheid.^[5]

Related words

• empower
• power
• disempowerment

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ Popik, Barry, The Big Apple, barrypopik.com, p. "Empowerment Zone", 22 September 2005