Etymologically
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imperfect

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Pronunciation

  • /ɪmpə(ɹ)ˈfɛkt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English imparfit, also inparfit,[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman inparfait, also inparfit, and imparfait,[4][5] which in Old French meant "incomplete, lacking some necessary part" from the late 13th century and was used of a verb tense from the early 14th.[4] The French word is from Latin imperfectus (“unfinished, incomplete”),[4][6][2][7] formed from in- (“not”) and perfectus (“finished, complete”),[6][2] the past participle of perficiō (“to accomplish, finish”), from per (“completely”) and faciō (“to make, do”).[6] In the 16th century the French-shaped form was remodelled after the Latin, as perfect was,[6][4][8][2] and Barnhart adds the influence of the spelling of imperfection.[2] The MED takes the Middle English adjective as formed on parfit (“perfect”), comparing the Latin word.[3] The Latin adjective was already used in grammar from the 3rd century, in arithmetic and, in medieval British sources, in music;[4] imperfetto, imperfecto, imperfeito and imperfecte are its Romance counterparts.[4] The verb imperfect, to make imperfect (before 1555), is formed from the adjective, after the verb perfect.[4][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Middle English imparfit meant sinful or immoral, and also not fully formed, incomplete or rudimentary; the first records are in Piers Plowman, whose B-text dates from about 1378.[3][6][2] The OED's first quotation for "lacking some necessary part, unfinished" is from Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus, before 1398.[4]

Semantic evolution

The moral sense "sinful, wicked" was used in Piers Plowman and survived until about 1630,[4][3][6] while the general senses "incomplete" and "flawed, defective" became the main ones.[4][10] Specialised uses followed: in music an imperfect concord (before 1450), interval (1609) or cadence (1636),[4] and in grammar a tense expressing action in progress but not completed, recorded from about 1450 and dated by Hoad to the 16th century.[4][10] The noun, "the imperfect tense", is dated by Merriam-Webster to 1871;[11][12] the OED compares Latin imperfectum, short for tempus imperfectum, and imparfait in this sense from 1596.[4] From 1508, first in Scots, a person could be imperfect in a subject, lacking skill or training.[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "not complete; not absolutely finished; defective", used of persons or things.[13] Botany later used it of flowers having only stamens or only pistils, and law of an obligation lacking the formality that makes it binding.[14][15]

Timeline

  • c. 1378 – imparfit, sinful; incomplete, in Piers Plowman.[3][2]
  • before 1398 – lacking some necessary part, unfinished.[4]
  • c. 1400 – flawed, defective; also sinful, wicked (obsolete by 1630).[4]
  • c. 1450 – in grammar, of a tense expressing incomplete action.[4]
  • before 1450 – in music, of a concord.[4]
  • 1508 – of a person, lacking skill or training (originally Scottish).[4]
  • mid-16th century – spelling remodelled after Latin imperfectus.[6][2]
  • before 1555 – verb, to make imperfect.[4]
  • 1871 – noun, the imperfect tense.[11][12]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Not perfect; having faults or defects: an imperfect copy of the manuscript.[15][14][11]
  2. Not complete or finished; deficient: She had only an imperfect grasp of the rules.[14][11][4]
  3. (grammar) Of a tense: showing an action or state, usually in the past, as continuing or incomplete.[15][14][4]
  4. (botany) Of a flower: having stamens or pistils but not both.[15][14][12]
  5. (music) Of a cadence or an interval: not perfect, as an interval of a third or sixth.[4][14]
  6. (law) Not legally enforceable, for lack of some formality.[15][14]

Noun

  1. (grammar) The imperfect tense, or a verb in that tense.[15][11][14]
  2. An article of merchandise with a small flaw, sold at a reduced price.[15]

Verb

  1. (obsolete) To make imperfect.[11][4][9]

Word family

  • imperfectly
  • imperfectness
  • imperfective
  • imperfect rhyme

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e 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 i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  12. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  15. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin