engine

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈen.dʒɪn/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English engyn,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French engin (“skill, cleverness; trick; war machine”),^[4][2] from Latin ingenium (“inborn qualities, talent”),^[4][2] in Late Latin also “a war engine, battering ram”,^[4] literally “that which is inborn”, from in- (“in”) and the root of gignere (“to beget, produce”),^[4][2] from Proto-Indo-European *gene- (“to give birth, beget”).^[4] It is related to ingenious.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A mechanical device, especially one used in war: probably before 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder,^[2] and about 1300 in Etymonline.^[4] Also about 1300, it meant skill, cleverness, trickery.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The original senses were ingenuity and cunning, and native wit or genius,^[5][6] which survives in Scots as ingine.^[5][7] From these came the product of ingenuity, a plot or snare, and also a tool or weapon, especially a large war machine such as a battering ram.^[5][8] The broad sense “machine” survives in fire engine and engine of destruction.^[2] The sense “a machine that converts energy into mechanical power” emerged in the 18th century,^[4] first in compounds such as steam engine (1751) and internal combustion engine (1884),^[2] and in the 19th century the word was used especially of steam engines.^[4] Engineer is first a builder of military engines, before 1338.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1300 – a machine of war.^[2]
• c. 1300 – skill, trickery.^[2][4]
• c. 1330 – a mechanical device.^[6]
• c. 1386 – native talent.^[6]
• 1751 – steam engine.^[2]
• 1868 – verb, to fit with steam engines.^[6]
• 1884 – internal combustion engine.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A machine that converts energy into mechanical force or motion, especially one that burns fuel.
2. A railway locomotive.
3. A means or agent by which something is done: an engine of change.
4. (archaic) A machine or tool, especially one used in war.
5. (computing) A program that performs a core function: a search engine.

Word family

• engineless
• engineer
• engineman
• enginery
• midengine
• multiengine
• reengine
• Carnot engine

Related words

• genius
• ingenious
• gin
• kin
• genital
• ingenuity

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press