essential

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪˈsen.ʃəl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English essencial,^[2] borrowed from Late Latin essentiālis,^[3][2][4] from Latin essentia (“being, essence”),^[3][5] an abstract noun formed to translate Greek ousia “being”,^[3] from essent-, the present participle stem of esse “to be”,^[3] from Proto-Indo-European *es- (“to be”).^[3] It is related to essence.^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

“That is such by essence, or in the highest sense”: about 1340 in the OED,^[6] the mid-14th century in Etymonline.^[3] Merriam-Webster has the 14th century.^[7]

Semantic evolution

“Of or pertaining to essence” is from 1398,^[6] the late 14th century in Etymonline.^[3] “Dependent on the intrinsic nature of a thing” is from 1502,^[6] and “necessary, indispensable” from the 1520s.^[3] “Constituting the essence of anything” is from the 1540s,^[3] 1546 in the OED.^[6] The plural noun essentials, the indispensable parts, is from the early 16th century,^[3] the noun being 15th-century in Merriam-Webster.^[7] In medicine essential is used of a disease or condition with no known cause,^[8] and in biochemistry of a nutrient the body cannot make for itself, as an essential amino acid.^[8][7]

Timeline

• c. 1340 – such by its essence.^[6]
• 1398 – pertaining to essence.^[6]
• 1502 – intrinsic.^[6]
• 1520s – necessary.^[3]
• 1546 – constituting the essence.^[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Forming part of the essence of something; inherent.
2. Basic or indispensable; necessary.
3. (medicine) Of a disease or disorder, having no known cause: essential hypertension.
4. Of a nutrient, needed for normal health but not made by the body in sufficient amounts.

Noun

1. Something basic or fundamental: the essentials of grammar.
2. Something necessary or indispensable.

Word family

• essentiality
• essentially
• essentialness
• coessential
• essentialism
• essentialize
• subessential
• quintessential

Related words

• essence
• entity
• is

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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin