endorsement

Etymology

It was formed from English endorse + -ment,^[2][3][4][5] replacing an earlier endosement of the early 15th century,^[4][2] borrowed from endossement.^[4][5] The verb endorse is endosen, endosser (“to put on one's back, to write on the back of a document”),^[6][2][7] formed from en- (“on”) and dos (“back”), dorsum (“back”);^[2][4][8] in the 16th century its spelling was assimilated to indorsō.^[2][9][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of endorsing a document, and a signature or note written on its back: 1547.^[10][8][11]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) gave the word two senses, writing on the back of something and ratification, quoting George Herbert for the second;^[12] the OED dates this figurative sense, "confirmation, approving testimony", to 1633,^[10][11] while the verb endorse did not take the meaning "to approve" until 1847.^[2][4] In commerce the endorsement of a bill or cheque makes it payable to another person,^[13][8] and the variant spelling indorsement, from 1586, has been used for this.^[13] In the 20th century the word was applied to a record of an offence entered on a driving licence (1902),^[11][3][14] to an amendment of an insurance policy,^[6][14][15] and to a celebrity's paid recommendation of a product.^[15]

Timeline

• early 15th century – endosement.^[4][2]
• 1547 – a signature or note on the back of a document.^[10][8]
• 1586 – the spelling indorsement.^[13]
• 1633 – confirmation, approval.^[10][11]
• 1902 – a record of an offence on a licence.^[11]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An act of approval or support, especially a public statement of it: The senator won the endorsement of the teachers' union.
2. A signature or note written on the back of a cheque or other document, especially one that transfers it to another person.
3. A recommendation of a product by a well-known person in advertising, or the payment received for it.
4. (British) A record of a driving offence entered on a licence.
5. (insurance) A clause added to a policy that changes its terms or cover.

Word family

• nonendorsement

Related words

• endorse
• dorsal
• dossier

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d e Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster