Etymologically
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enlist

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Pronunciation

  • /ɛnˈlɪst/, /ɪnˈlɪst/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English en- + list (“a roll, catalogue”),[2][3][4][5][6] perhaps on the model of Dutch inlijsten (“to write on a list”).[3][4][2][7][8] Weekley thought it probably came from the Dutch verb, in the period that gave English Dutch military words such as furlough and roster.[9] The OED points out that the plain verb list in the same sense is recorded considerably earlier than enlist and may be its source.[2] The variant inlist, now wholly disused, was much the commoner one in the 18th century.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Reflexive, to enrol oneself on the list of a military body: 1665, in T. Herbert's Some Years Travels.[2] Barnhart likewise finds the form inlist in 1665.[3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was to put a name on the list, the roll of a military body.[5][2] The transitive use, to enrol someone as a soldier, is recorded from 1699, and the intransitive use, to have one's own name entered as a recruit, from 1776, in Gibbon, gradually replacing the reflexive one.[2] Etymonline dates the transitive use to the 1690s and the intransitive to 1753.[4] From 1753, in Smollett, the verb was also used figuratively, of securing a person or their services as a help in some enterprise.[2] The dating is disputed: Merriam-Webster gives 1599 as the first known use, for the figurative sense,[10] and the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English date the word to the mid 16th century,[7][8] while Barnhart dates enlist to 1698–99.[3] The derivatives enlisted man (1724) and enlistment (1765) followed.[3]

Timeline

  • 1665 – reflexive, to enrol oneself as a soldier, as inlist.[2][3]
  • 1699 – transitive, to enrol someone as a soldier.[2]
  • 1724 – enlisted man.[3]
  • 1753 – figurative, to secure someone's help in an enterprise.[2]
  • 1765 – enlistment.[3]
  • 1776 – intransitive, to join up as a recruit.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To enrol someone, or to enrol oneself, for service in the armed forces: Both brothers enlisted in the navy at eighteen.[11][10][2]
  2. To obtain the help, support or services of someone for a cause or undertaking: She enlisted her neighbours to clear the park.[11][10][2]
  3. To join a cause or enterprise.[11][2]

Word family

  • enlistment
  • enlistee
  • enlister
  • reenlist

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  10. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins