equip

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French équiper (“to fit out”),^[2][3][4][5] from Old French esquiper (“to fit out a ship”),^[2][3][4] probably from Old Norse skipa (“to man a ship, fit up, arrange”),^{[5][2][3][6][7]} a verb formed from skip (“ship”), a cognate of ship.^[5][8][9] Etymonline notes that the Old Norse verb was also used of warriors manning a hall and of trees laden with fruit.^[3] The OED notes that the French verb is not recorded in this sense before the 16th century, but must have existed much earlier, at least in Anglo-Norman, which had Anglo-Norman eskipeson (“equipment”) (14th century), and in Medieval Latin, which had eschipō (“to man a vessel”) in M. Paris (13th century).^[5][10] The OED and Hoad think that the Old French esquiper or eschiper, to put out to sea, perhaps has a separate source, though one also from Old Norse or Old Saxon;^[5][6] Merriam-Webster compares Old English scipian (“to embark, equip a ship”), from scip (“ship”).^[4] Weekley thought some senses perhaps influenced by an association with Latin equus (“horse”).^[11] The French verb is also the source of esquipar and esquipar.^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To furnish with what is needed for action, such as arms or equipment: 1523, in a letter of T. Wolsey.^[5][2][4]

Semantic evolution

Ayto observes that although the word goes back to fitting out a ship, its earliest English uses are already in the broad sense "to supply with what is necessary", and its link with the sea was soon lost.^[8] The nautical sense, to fit out a ship, is recorded in English only from 1574.^[5] From 1695 the verb also meant to dress up or rig out a person;^[5] from 1699 it also meant to supply someone with money for an undertaking, formerly also in slang or jocular use for giving someone a sum of money.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it first as furnishing a horseman for service.^[12] The noun equipment is recorded from 1717, and equipage, at first equipment or a train of attendants, from the 16th century.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1523 – to furnish with what is needed for service or action.^[5][2][4]
• 1574 – to fit out a ship.^[5]
• 1695 – to dress up, rig out.^[5]
• 1699 – to supply with money for an undertaking.^[5]
• 1717 – equipment.^[2]
• 1725 – reflexive, to fit oneself out, as for a journey.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To furnish or supply with the tools, materials or apparatus needed for a purpose: The new lab was equipped with modern microscopes.^[13][4][5]
2. To provide with the abilities, knowledge or understanding needed: Her training equipped her to handle emergencies.^[13][4]
3. To dress or attire, especially for a particular activity: hikers equipped for rain.^[13][5][12]

Word family

• equipper
• reequip

Related words

• equipment
• equipage
• ship
• skipper

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b 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 Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins