endorse

Etymology

It is a respelling of earlier endoss,^[2][3][4] inherited from Middle English endosen,^[5][6][3] borrowed from Old French endosser (“to put on the back”),^[2][7][8][9] from en- (“on”) and dos (“back”), from Latin dossum, a variant of dorsum (“back”).^[2][7][8] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from the mid-12th century, meaning both to put on one's back and to write on the back of a document, and to approve.^[10] In the 16th century the English word was remodelled after Medieval Latin indorsō, formed from in- (“in, on”) and the same Latin noun,^{[2][7][11][12]} first as indorse (1547), then as endorse (1581).^[7][13] The older form died out in the 17th century.^[4] The same Latin noun gave dorsal, doss and dossier.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To confirm or approve a charter, bill or agreement, originally by writing on the back of the document: the Middle English endosen is a legal term,^[5][2] recorded, in the OED's dating, from 1381 in the sense "to write on the back of a document".^[14] Etymonline dates it to about 1400,^[2] and Barnhart to before 1400.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The sense of writing on the back of a document, especially signing a bill or cheque, gave the commercial use: from 1866 to endorse a bill or cheque meant to make it payable to another person.^[14][15] Johnson (1755) defined the word as "to register on the back of a writing; to superscribe".^[16] The figurative sense "to confirm, sanction, vouch for" a statement or opinion is recorded from 1847,^[2][7][14] and Hoad links it to the earlier use of endorsement for ratification.^[17] From 1914 it also meant to declare one's approval of a person or thing,^[14] and the American Heritage Dictionary adds the sense of recommending a product in advertising.^[6] In Britain, from 1902, a motorist's or publican's licence could be endorsed with a record of an offence.^[15][14] A heraldic noun endorse, a narrow vertical stripe beside a pale, is recorded from 1572 and apparently comes from the verb, though the OED finds the reason for the name obscure.^[18][11]

Timeline

• 1381 – to write on the back of a document (the OED's date).^[14]
• c. 1400 – endosse, to confirm or approve a charter or bill.^[2]
• 1547 – the form indorse.^[7][18]
• 1572 – noun, in heraldry, a narrow vertical stripe.^[18]
• 1581 – the form endorse.^[7][3]
• 1847 – figurative, to confirm, sanction or vouch for.^[2][7][14]
• 1866 – to make a bill or cheque payable to another person.^[14]
• 1902 – to record an offence on a licence.^[14]
• 1914 – to declare one's approval of a person or thing.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To declare approval of or support for, especially publicly: The union endorsed the mayor for a second term.^[6][19][3]
2. To recommend a product, often for payment, as in an advertisement.^[6]
3. To sign one's name on the back of a cheque or similar document, as payee or to transfer it to another.^[6][19][20]
4. To write a comment, instruction or summary on a document, especially on its back.^[19][20][11]
5. (chiefly British) To record an offence on a driving licence.^[19][15]

Noun

1. (heraldry) A narrow vertical stripe beside a pale.^[3][11][18]

Word family

• endorsable
• endorsee
• endorser
• unendorsed
• endorsement

Related words

• dorsal
• dossier
• doss
• dorsum

Usage notes

Fowler, as quoted by Etymonline, held that one can endorse a cheque or other papers literally and a claim or argument figuratively, but that endorsing material things other than papers is a solecism.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
5. ^ a b 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)
6. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
15. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
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. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
18. ^ a b c d Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
19. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
20. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster