encouragement

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French encouragement,^[2][3][4] or a formation in English from encourage and the suffix -ment.^[4][5] The verb is borrowed from Old French encoragier (“to make strong, hearten”) (Anglo-Norman encorager, from 1155),^[4][2][6] from en- and corage (“heart, courage”),^[4][7][2] the source of courage.^[4][7] The noun corage continues Vulgar Latin *corāticum, from Latin cor (“heart”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of encouraging, or the fact of being encouraged: 1550, in Thomas Nicolls's translation of Thucydides.^[2][8] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1549, and Etymonline and Dictionary.com to the 1560s.^[9][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Its meaning has followed the verb, which first meant to give someone courage (1490, in Caxton) and, from the late 17th century, also to stimulate or foster an activity with help or approval.^[2] The concrete sense, a fact or circumstance that encourages, is recorded from 1700.^[8] Johnson (1755) gave two senses, an incitement to act, an incentive, and favour or support, as in the encouragement of the arts.^[10] The spelling incouragement was also used in early modern English.^[3]

Timeline

• 1549 – Merriam-Webster's first date.^[9]
• 1550 – the action of encouraging; the state of being encouraged.^[2]
• 1700 – something that encourages.^[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The giving of support, confidence or hope to someone: Her coach's encouragement kept her running.
2. Persuasion or an incentive to do something or to keep doing it.
3. The act of helping an activity or development to grow; promotion: the encouragement of small businesses.

Word family

• reencouragement

Related words

• encourage
• courage
• discouragement

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.