Etymologically
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eviction

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Pronunciation

  • /ɪˈvɪk.ʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman eviction or Middle French eviction,[2] and directly borrowed from Late Latin ēvictiō (“recovery of one's property by judicial decision”),[3][4][5][6] from the past participle stem of Latin ēvincō (“to overcome, conquer”).[3][4][2] The French word is recorded from the late 13th century,[2] and the Latin one was a legal term for recovery by a superior title, used in post-classical Latin also for conquest.[2] The verb ēvincō is formed from ex- and vincō (“to conquer”).[3] The OED compares Italian evizione, recorded from 1455.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The recovery of property, or of the title to it, by legal process: 1461–2, in the Rolls of Parliament,[2] mid-15th century in Etymonline.[3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, the recovery of property by law, lasted into the 19th century and is now historical.[2][5] The sense of turning a person out of land or a house by legal process appears in 1502,[2] Etymonline dates "dispossession by judicial sentence" to the 1580s,[3] and the word now refers above all to the removal of a tenant by a landlord.[2][6] From 1599 it was also used of ejecting someone from any place or position.[2] In the 16th and 17th centuries, like the verb evict, it could also mean extortion, conquest, conviction of an accused person, and proof or refutation in argument;[2] Johnson (1755) still gave "proof; evidence" as its second sense.[7]

Timeline

  • 1461 – the recovery of property by legal process (obsolete by 1870).[2]
  • 1502 – the legal expulsion of a person from land or property.[2]
  • 1560 – extortion (obsolete by 1606).[2]
  • 1571 – proof, demonstration (obsolete by 1834).[2]
  • 1599 – the ejection of a person from any place or position.[2]
  • 1602 – conquest (obsolete by 1611).[2]
  • 1606 – refutation in argument (obsolete by 1703).[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act of expelling someone, especially a tenant, from land or a building by legal process, or the state of being expelled: The family faced eviction after missing three months' rent.[6][2][5]
  2. The removal of a person from any place or position.[2]
  3. (law) The recovery of land from another's possession by legal proceedings, or dispossession by a superior title.[6][2][5]
  4. (obsolete, 1571–1834) Proof or evidence.[2][6][7]
  5. (obsolete, 1602–1611) Conquest of a country.[2][5]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ 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.