Etymologically
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feature

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:27. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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

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)