Etymologically
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fruition

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /fɹuˈɪʃən/[1]
  • US: /fɹuˈɪʃən/[1]

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

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