Etymologically
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essential

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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
  • 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