exhibition

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˌek.sɪˈbɪʃ.ən/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English exhibicioun,^[2] borrowed from Old French exhibicion (“show, display”),^[3][4][2] from Late Latin exhibitiō (“presentation; maintenance”),^[3][5] a noun of action from exhibēre (“to show, present”), literally “to hold out”,^[3][5] from ex- (“out”) and habēre (“to hold”) (see exhibit).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of displaying: the early 14th century in Etymonline.^[3] The OED's earliest sense is maintenance or support (1432–50), which Etymonline dates to the early 15th century.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

The old sense of provision gave an allowance of money for someone's support (1498) and money given to a university student;^[6][4] from it came the British exhibition, a fixed sum awarded to a student from the funds of a school or college, usually after an examination (OED from about 1525, SOED from the mid-17th century).^[6][4][5] Shakespeare used it for a gift or present in Othello.^[4] The sense of showing or display became the main one: a visible show of a feeling or quality from the late 17th century,^[4] and that which is exhibited from 1786.^[3] To make an exhibition of oneself, to behave ridiculously in public, is a later phrase.^[4][7]

Timeline

• early 14th century – a display.^[3]
• 1432–50 – maintenance, support.^[6]
• 1498 – an allowance of money.^[6]
• c. 1525 – a student's exhibition.^[6]
• late 17th century – a show of a quality.^[4]
• 1786 – that which is exhibited.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A public display of works of art, products or other items.
2. A display or demonstration of a skill or quality.
3. The act of exhibiting, or the state of being exhibited.
4. (British) A scholarship given to a student by a school or university.

Word family

• nonexhibition
• reexhibition
• exhibitionism
• exhibitionist
• exhibition game

Related words

• exposition
• exhibit
• habit
• inhibition
• prohibition

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins