fruition

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English fruicioun, also fruycion,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Middle French fruition and directly borrowed from Late Latin fruitiō (“enjoyment”),^{[5][6][2][4][3]} formed from the past participle stem of Latin fruor (“to use, enjoy”) and -iō.^[5][6][7] Merriam-Webster takes the participle fruitus as an alteration of the usual frūctus,^[4] so the word shares its source with fruit.^[8][9] Etymonline traces the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *bhrug- (“to enjoy”),^[6] and Barnhart relates it to brook, to tolerate.^[2] In French the word meant the enjoyment of something spiritual from the mid 14th century, and of something material from the 15th; the Latin word meant enjoyment from the 4th century and the enjoyment of God from the 5th.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Enjoyment, especially the spiritual joy of communion with God: Barnhart dates fruycion to 1413,^[2] and the OED and the Middle English Dictionary's first record is the Lanterne of Light (before 1415).^[5][3][2]

Semantic evolution

For four centuries the word meant only enjoyment, especially the pleasure of possessing something, as in Marlowe's "the sweet fruition of an earthly crown".^[5][4][7] Johnson (1755) still defined it as enjoyment, possession, the pleasure given by possession or use.^[10] In the 19th century it came to be associated with fruit and took the senses it now has:^[9][4][2] the realization of a plan (1824 in the OED, 1889 in Barnhart and Etymonline) and the bearing of fruit (1849 in the OED, 1885 in Barnhart and Etymonline).^[5][2][6] Barnhart calls the association mistaken,^[2] and Etymonline notes that dictionary editors long resisted it.^[6] The old sense of enjoyment is now rare or obsolete.^[7]

Timeline

• 1413 – fruycion, enjoyment.^[2] The OED's first record is from before 1425.^[5]
• 1824 – the realization of a plan, as in come to fruition.^[5] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1889.^[2][6]
• 1849 – the state of bearing fruit.^[5] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1885.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The realization or fulfilment of something planned or worked for: After years of saving, their plan for a bakery came to fruition.^[11][5][4]
2. The state of bearing fruit.^[11][5][4]
3. Enjoyment, especially the pleasure that comes from possessing something; now rare.^{[11][5][4][7]}

Word family

• nonfruition

Related words

• fruit
• brook

Usage notes

Because the sense of fulfilment arose by association with fruit, it was long resisted by dictionary editors.^[6][2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins