expect

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪkˈspekt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin exspectāre (“to await, look out for; hope, long for”), also expectāre,^[2][3][4] from ex- (“thoroughly”) and spectāre (“to look”),^[2][3] the frequentative of specere (“to look at”),^[2][4] from Proto-Indo-European *spek- (“to observe”).^[2][4] It is related to spectacle and spy.^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

“To wait, defer action”: 1560^[3][6][7] or the 1550s.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “to look forward to, anticipate” developed in Latin and is attested in English from about 1600,^[2] first in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (1601) according to Barnhart.^[3] The old sense “to wait for, await” is from 1585 and now obsolete.^[6] “To count on, rely on” is from the 1630s,^[2] and “to suppose, suspect” from the 1640s, regarded as a New England provincialism.^[2] Nelson's last signal before Trafalgar on 21 October 1805 was “England expects that every man will do his duty”.^[5] Use as a euphemism for “to be pregnant” is from 1817, in Jane Austen's letters.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1560 – to wait.^[3][6]
• 1585 – to await.^[6]
• 1601 – to anticipate.^[3]
• 1630s – to count on.^[2]
• 1640s – to suppose.^[2]
• 1805 – “England expects…”.^[5]
• 1817 – to be pregnant.^[3][2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To think that something will probably happen or arrive; to anticipate.
2. To consider something due or required: I expect an apology.
3. (informal) To suppose: I expect you're tired.
4. (be expecting) To be pregnant.

Word family

• expectable
• expectably
• expectedly
• expectedness
• expecter
• expectingly
• expectative
• overexpect

Related words

• expectancy
• expectant
• expectation
• spectacle
• spy
• inspect
• respect
• suspect

Usage notes

To expect is to think something likely, to anticipate is to prepare for it or experience it in advance, and to hope adds desire to expectation.^[8] In the dialects of northern and midland England expect meant “to suppose, think”.^[9]

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 c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)