evasion

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English evasioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French evasion and directly borrowed from Late Latin ēvāsiō (“a going out, escape”),^{[5][3][6][4][7]} a noun of action from ēvāsus, the past participle of ēvādō (“to escape, go out”),^[3][5][7] which is formed from ex- (“away”) and vādō (“to go, walk”).^[5] The OED gives the immediate source as French évasion,^[8] Barnhart as Middle French,^[6] and Collins takes the word straight from Late Latin.^[9] The Anglo-Norman evasioun is recorded from the late 13th century, meaning escape and also a subterfuge or trick.^[10] The same Latin verb gave evade, and Klein compares invasion and pervasion.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A means of evading; an evasive argument or excuse: about 1425, in Andrew of Wyntoun's Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland.^[8] The Oxford Dictionary of English likewise gives "prevaricating excuse" as the first sense,^[11] while Etymonline has "a way out, expedient" in the early 15th century.^[5] The Middle English Dictionary has the word in a surgical text of about 1425, glossed "escaping".^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense "escape from confinement or danger", close to the Latin, is recorded from before 1464, in Capgrave's chronicle,^[8][2] while the sense "a way or opportunity of escape" lasted from before 1555 to 1736.^[8] Shakespeare's Measure for Measure (before 1616) has the first record of evading a duty, law or argument, the sense of dodging and prevarication that became the main one;^[8] by 1657 it was also used of avoiding a blow or pursuit by some contrivance.^[8] The literal Latin sense, going out or sallying forth, was revived in rare use from before 1659.^[8] Johnson (1755) gave only the sense "excuse; subterfuge; sophistry; artifice; artful means of eluding or escaping", with quotations from Shakespeare and Milton.^[12] Today the word is most often met in tax evasion, the illegal avoidance of a duty.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – a means of evading; an evasive excuse.^[8][6]
• c. 1425 – escaping, in a surgical text.^[2]
• before 1464 – escape from confinement or danger.^[8][2]
• before 1555 – a means or way of escape (obsolete by 1736).^[8]
• before 1616 – the evading of a duty, law or argument; prevarication.^[8]
• 1657 – avoiding a blow or pursuit by a trick.^[8]
• before 1659 – going out, a sally (rare).^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of avoiding something, especially a duty or a payment, by trickery or illegal means: tax evasion.^[9][4][8]
2. Deliberate avoidance of a direct answer; equivocation or prevarication: Her replies were a string of evasions.^[9][8]
3. A means of evading; an evasive argument or subterfuge.^[9][8][13]
4. Physical escape or flight.^[4][8]

Word family

• evasional
• nonevasion
• tax evasion

Related words

• evade
• evasive
• invasion
• pervade
• invade

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press