Etymologically
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environment

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 18:24. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɪnˈvaɪ.rən.mənt/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English environ + -ment,[2][3] from the verb environ “to surround”, which is inherited from Middle English environ, borrowed from Old French environner, from environ (“around”),[4][2] from en- (“in, around”) and viron (“circuit”), from virer (“to turn”), the source of veer.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of surrounding, the state of being surrounded: 1603 in the OED,[5] about 1600 in Etymonline,[2] the early 17th century in Word Origins and the SOED.[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The word then meant the surroundings of a place, its environs,[4] the objects or region around something (1830).[5] The conditions in which a person or thing lives or develops are by 1827, in Carlyle, who used it to render German Umgebung.[2][5][6] The modern ecological sense, the natural world as affected by human activity, did not develop until the late 19th century in Word Origins' account,[4] and Etymonline first records the specialized ecology sense in 1956.[2] In computing an environment is the structure within which a user or program works, from 1961.[5] Environment-friendly is from 1982.[5]

Timeline

  • 1603 – the state of being surrounded.[5]
  • 1827 – the conditions in which a person lives.[2][5]
  • 1830 – surroundings.[5]
  • 1956 – the ecological sense.[2]
  • 1961 – in computing.[5]
  • 1982 – environment-friendly.[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The circumstances or conditions that surround a person or thing; surroundings.
  2. The natural world, especially as affected by human activity; the physical conditions that affect the growth and survival of living things.
  3. The social and cultural conditions that influence a person or community.
  4. (computing) The operating system or set of programs within which an application runs.

Word family

  • environ
  • environmentalist
  • environmentalism
  • environs
  • veer

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 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 Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster