feature

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈfiː.tʃə/, US /ˈfiː.tʃɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English feture,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman feture, Old French faiture “deed, action; shape, form; countenance”,^[4][2] from Latin factūra (“a formation, a working”),^[4][2] from the past participle stem of facere (“to make, do”),^[4][2] from Proto-Indo-European *dhe- (“to set, put”).^[4] Latin factūra is also the source of Spanish hechura, Portuguese feitura and Italian fattura.^[4] The verb is from the noun.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Make, form, shape, especially of the body: about 1325 in the OED.^[5] Barnhart gives “something created in a particular shape”, about 1375, and the features of the face in 1378, in Piers Plowman.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Trench noted that a feature is now always a part of a larger whole, as a feature of a landscape or the features of a face, but that once anything made was a feature.^[6] The form of the face is from about 1350,^[5] and a single part of the face from 1828.^[5] A distinctive part or characteristic of anything is first found in Dryden's translation of Saint-Évremond,^[2] by the 1690s in Etymonline.^[4] A special attraction in entertainment is from 1801, a newspaper feature by 1855, and a feature film by 1913.^[4] The verb meant “to resemble in features” from 1755,^[5][4] and “to make a special display of” from 1888.^[4][5] In Midland and southern English dialect feature meant “to resemble in looks”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1325 – form, shape.^[5]
• c. 1350 – the form of the face.^[5]
• 1690s – a distinctive part.^[4]
• 1755 – verb, to resemble.^[5][4]
• 1801 – a special attraction.^[4]
• 1855 – a newspaper feature.^[4]
• 1888 – verb, to make a feature of.^[4][5]
• 1913 – a feature film.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A part of the face, such as the eyes or nose, or in the plural the whole face.
2. A prominent or distinctive part or characteristic.
3. The main film in a cinema programme; a full-length film.
4. A special article or programme in a newspaper or broadcast.

Verb

1. To give special prominence to.
2. To have as an important part: the film features a famous cast.
3. To play an important part.

Word family

• featureless
• cofeature
• defeature
• disfeature
• feature-length
• featurette
• misfeature
• telefeature

Related words

• fact
• factory
• facture
• fashion
• feat
• feasible

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
7. ^ 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)