ignition

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin ignītiō (“a setting on fire”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} perhaps through French ignition,^[7][6][5] which the OED compares and records from the 16th century.^[2] The Latin noun is formed from Latin ignītus, the past participle of igniō (“to set on fire”),^[7][8][2] from ignis (“fire”),^[7][8][9] from Proto-Indo-European *egni- (“fire”), which also gave Lithuanian ugnis (“fire”).^[7][8] It is related to ignite and igneous.^[7][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The heating of a substance to the point of combustion or chemical change: 1612 in Barnhart and Merriam-Webster,^[6][10] 1617 in the OED, in Woodall's Surgions Mate.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Word Origins notes that the word first meant heating something to the point of combustion or chemical change, not setting it alight.^[9] Johnson (1755) defined it as the act of kindling or setting on fire, quoting Boyle.^[11] The sense "the action of setting fire to something, catching fire" is recorded in the OED only from 1816.^[2] From 1881 the word named a means of igniting, at first in a gun,^[2][7] and then from 1906 the system that produces the spark in an internal-combustion engine.^[7][6] In the 20th century it took on technical senses in electronics, the striking of an arc (1919), and in nuclear physics, the point at which a fusion reaction becomes self-sustaining (1954).^[2]

Timeline

• 1612 – the heating of a substance to combustion or chemical change.^[6][10]
• 1617 – first OED date.^[2]
• 1816 – setting fire to something, catching fire.^[2]
• 1881 – a means of igniting, in a gun.^[2][7]
• 1906 – the spark system of an internal-combustion engine.^[7][6]
• 1919 – in electronics, the striking of an arc.^[2]
• 1954 – in nuclear physics, the start of a self-sustaining fusion reaction.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of setting something on fire, or the process of catching fire.^[12][10][2]
2. The process of igniting the fuel mixture in an internal-combustion engine or a rocket engine.^[12][10]
3. The system or switch that starts this process in a vehicle: She left the keys in the ignition.^[12][2]
4. (chemistry) The heating of a substance strongly, with free access to air.^[10][2]
5. (nuclear physics) The point at which a nuclear fusion reaction becomes self-sustaining.^[2]

Word family

• autoignition
• preignition
• reignition
• ignition coil
• ignition interlock

Related words

• ignite
• igneous
• ignis fatuus

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins