function

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈfʌŋk.ʃᵊn/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French fonction,^[2][3] and directly from Latin fūnctiō (“performance, execution”),^[4][2] from fūnctus, past participle of fungī (“to perform, discharge”),^[4][2][5] from Proto-Indo-European *bhung- (“to be of use”),^[4] perhaps related to Sanskrit bhuṅkte “he enjoys”.^[6] The verb is from the noun.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

One's proper work or purpose: 1533, in Thomas More's Confutation of Barnes.^[2][6][7]

Semantic evolution

The activity proper to a bodily organ is from 1590,^[7] and to the intellectual and moral powers from 1604.^[7] An official ceremony is from the 1630s, at first in church use,^[4] and later a formal social gathering.^[8][5] In mathematics, a quantity that varies with another, Leibniz began the use in 1692, and it is found in English in the 18th century.^[4][5][2] Function word, in grammar, is from 1940,^[7] and the computing sense from 1947.^[4][7] The verb, “to perform a function”, is from 1844 in Etymonline,^[4] and 1856 in the OED and Merriam-Webster.^[7][6] Functional is from 1631,^[2] and functionary from 1791, in Burke, after French fonctionnaire.^[2]

Timeline

• 1533 – proper work or purpose.^[2][7]
• 1590 – the activity of a bodily organ.^[7]
• 1630s – an official ceremony.^[4]
• 1692 – in mathematics, in Leibniz.^[4]
• 1844 – verb, to perform a function.^[4]
• 1940 – function word.^[7]
• 1947 – in computing.^[4][7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The purpose or activity for which a thing exists or a person is employed.
2. An assigned duty or role.
3. A formal social gathering or official ceremony.
4. (mathematics) A relation in which each value of one variable corresponds to exactly one value of another.
5. Something that depends on and varies with something else: price is a function of demand.
6. (computing) A routine or operation performed by a program.

Verb

1. To work or operate; to serve as.

Word family

• functionless

Related words

• functor
• fungible
• functional
• dysfunction
• functionary
• defunct
• perfunctory

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary groups function with duty, office and role, all meaning the activities expected of a person, and function is the most general of them.^[8]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin