entirety

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English entērtē, also enterete,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman entiertie,^[4][3][5] and Old French entiereté (“totality, entirety; integrity, purity”),^[3][6][7] from Latin integritās (“completeness, soundness, integrity”),^[3][4][5] from integer (“untouched, whole”).^[7][6] The MED gives as its sources the Old French noun as well as the Middle English adjective entēr (“entire”).^[2] The Anglo-Norman noun, recorded from 1171–74, already meant the whole, the sum total, and integrity.^[8] It is related to entire and, through the same Latin noun, to integrity.^[7][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Fullness, perfection: about 1350, in a Middle English psalter, where it translates the Latin integritas given in a gloss.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the mid 14th century,^[3] while the OED and Merriam-Webster find it first in 1548.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word meant the state of being whole or complete, also integrity and perfection, often in the phrase in its entirety.^[4][9] In law it was used from 1613 of the undivided possession of an estate by two or more people jointly, especially in the phrase by entireties, of husband and wife.^[4][9] Johnson (1755) gave only the form entierty, which continued in legal use into the 19th century.^[4] The sense "the whole, the sum total" is recorded from 1856,^[4] and the Shorter Oxford calls it now rare.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1350 – enterete, fullness, perfection.^[2]
• 1548 – completeness, integrity.^[4][6]
• 1613 – in law, undivided possession of an estate.^[4]
• 1755 – Johnson records only the form entierty.^[4]
• 1856 – the whole, the sum total.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being whole or undivided; completeness.^[10][6][4]
2. in its entirety: as a whole, completely: The report was published in its entirety.^[10][4][9]
3. The whole of something; the sum total.^[10][6][4]
4. (law) Undivided possession of an estate by two or more persons jointly, especially husband and wife by entireties.^[4][9]

Related words

• integrity
• integer

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins