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Etymology and origin of the English word impost

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈɪmpəʊst/[1]
  • US: /ˈɪmpoʊst/[1]

impost1 tax, duty

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1568
Borrowed from
Middle French impost
Ultimate origin
Latin pōnō

Etymology

The word for the tax is borrowed from Middle French impost,[2][3][4] recorded in French from 1429 and now impôt,[5][4] from Medieval Latin impostum (“a tax imposed”), also impostus, found from 1272.[5][4][6][7] Barnhart notes that the French word was probably taken from writing, since its s had not been pronounced after 1300.[3] The Medieval Latin noun is a use of the neuter of Latin impostus, contracted from impositus, the past participle of impōnō (“to place upon”),[4][3][6] from in- (“on”) and pōnō (“to place, set”).[3] The same participle gave Spanish impuesto and Portuguese imposto,[5] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged writes the Medieval Latin form as impositum.[2] The English word is related to impose.[8][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A tax or duty: Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Barnhart date it to 1568,[2][3] and the OED's first quotation is from Grafton's Chronicle (1569): “He neuer put any tribute, impost, or taxe vpon his subiectes.”[5]

Semantic evolution

The name reflects the Latin sense “placed upon”.[4][3] It was used especially of a customs duty on goods,[5][3] and the OED now calls it chiefly historical.[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as “a tax; a toll; custom paid”, quoting Bacon.[9] In the 1880s two further uses appeared: in horse racing, slang for the weight a horse must carry in a handicap (1883),[5] and in American customs houses, a verb for classifying imported goods by their rate of duty (1884).[5][3]

Timeline

  • 1568 – a tax or duty.[2][3] The OED's first quotation is from 1569.[5]
  • 1588 – attributive, in impost fine.[5]
  • 1883 – in horse racing, the weight carried in a handicap.[5]
  • 1884 – verb, to classify imported goods according to duty, in American English.[5][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A tax or duty, especially a customs duty on goods; now chiefly in historical use: The port's revenue depended on the impost on wine.[10][2][5]
  2. (horse racing) The weight a horse has to carry in a handicap race.[10][2][5]

Verb

  1. (US) To classify imported goods according to the duty payable on them.[10][2][5]

impost2 top of a pillar supporting an arch

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1664 Evelyn, Account of Architecture
Borrowed from
French imposte
Ultimate origin
Latin pōnō

Etymology

The word for the top of a pillar is borrowed from French imposte,[5][4][2][11][12] recorded in French from 1545,[5] from Italian imposta,[5][4][6][13] the noun use of the feminine past participle of imporre (“to put upon”),[7][14][2] from Latin impōnō (“to place upon”).[6][14][7] It is thus of the same derivation as impost1.[5] The Shorter Oxford, the Concise Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English derive the English word directly from the Italian.[7][15][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The upper part of a pillar, on which the end of an arch rests: Evelyn's account of architecture in his translation of Fréart (1664): “Imposts..are nothing but their Capitels or more protuberant heads, upon which rest the ends of the Arches.”[5][2] Etymonline gives the 1660s,[4] but the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English date the word to the late 15th century.[7][14]

Semantic evolution

From the block under an arch the word was extended to a horizontal block on upright stones, a use the OED first quotes in 1748 of Stonehenge.[5][8][7] In 1730 A. Gordon's translation of Maffei also used it for the hanging stile of a door or gate, after the Italian imposte,[5] and there he has a rare verb impost, “to set on imposts; to spring, as an arch”, apparently from Italian impostare.[5]

Timeline

  • 1664 – the upper course of a pillar on which an arch rests.[5][2]
  • 1730 – the hanging stile or leaf of a door or gate (obsolete and rare), and a verb, to set on imposts.[5]
  • 1748 – a horizontal block on upright stones, as at Stonehenge.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (architecture) The block, capital or moulding at the top of a pillar, pier or wall from which an arch springs.[2][10][5]
  2. A horizontal block resting on upright stones, as at Stonehenge.[5][7][12]

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 m Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ 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 z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  12. ^ a b The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
  13. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  14. ^ a b c d Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  15. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Impost.” Etymologically, 6 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/impost. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

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