encroachment

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English encrochement,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman encrochement,^[3][4][5] recorded in Anglo-Norman from 1388^[6] (the OED's date is 1437),^[7] with the sense of usurping rights or extending one's land illegally.^[6] The OED instead treats it as formed within the language from English encroach + -ment,^[7] and Barnhart allows that for some uses;^[4] Etymonline gives both explanations.^[8] The base verb is from Old French encrochier (“to seize, fasten on”),^[7][8][4][9] from en- and croc (“hook”),^{[7][8][10][9]} from Old Norse krókr (“hook”),^[9][8] the source of crook.^[9][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A structure obtruding into a watercourse: Coventry records of probably 1469 forbid narrowing the river with “weeres, demyngess, encrochementes”.^[2][4] Etymonline gives the mid 15th century for this sense.^[8] The OED's first record of the action of encroaching is from 1523, in Fitzherbert's Boke of Surueyeng.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The image is of something that seizes with hooks, and the verb's use for intruding on what belongs to another developed only in the 16th century, out of “seize wrongfully”.^[9][8] The OED singles out a legal use of the noun.^[7] Johnson (1755), following Cowell, explained it as an unlawful gathering in upon another: one of two neighbours pressing too far on the other's ground, or a lord taking three shillings where the rent is two.^[11] Webster (1828) stressed the gradual, silent advance on another's rights or territory, and added what is taken in that way.^[12] A rare noun encroach with the same meaning appears from 1611.^[7] The American Heritage Dictionary (5th ed.) adds a sense from American football, a player entering the neutral zone and touching an opponent before the snap.^[10]

Timeline

• probably 1469 – an obtruding structure in a river.^[2][4]
• 1523 – the action of encroaching on land or rights.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Gradual intrusion on another's land, rights or sphere of action: The villagers protested against the encroachment of the quarry on their common.^[3][13][7]
2. An instance of this, such as a building on public ground or a fence that overhangs a neighbour's land.^[3][12]
3. (law) An infringement of another's rights, or an interference with or intrusion onto another's property.^[14][11]
4. A gradual advance beyond the usual or acceptable limits: the encroachment of the suburbs on the marshes.^[13][7]
5. (football) A foul in which a player enters the neutral zone and touches an opponent before the snap.^[10]

Word family

• nonencroachment

Related words

• encroach
• crook
• crochet
• crocket
• croquet

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Webster, Noah (1828), An American Dictionary of the English Language, New York: S. Converse
13. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West