imprint

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English emprenten, also imprenten,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French empreinter (“to stamp, engrave”),^{[2][5][6][7][8]} from empreinte (“mark, impression”),^[2][5] the feminine past participle, used as a noun, of empreindre (“to press on, impress”).^[2][5][4][6] The OED adds that some Middle English forms came directly from empreindre.^[6] The French verb comes through Vulgar Latin *impremō from Latin imprimō (“to impress, imprint”),^[2][6] formed from in- (“into, on”) and premō (“to press”).^{[2][9][8][10]} Watkins, cited by Etymonline, traces it to Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to strike”).^[2] The prefix was respelled after the Latin, giving imprinten by 1448.^[7][6] The noun, at first enpreent or emprente, comes from the Old French noun itself;^[7][2][6][4] it is not recorded in its modern spelling before 1526.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To impress on or fix in the mind or memory: about 1374, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.^[6][7] The literal sense, to mark by pressure, follows in Chaucer's Merchant's Tale (about 1386).^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

Chaucer used the verb both for a figure pressed into warm wax and for things fixed in the mind.^[3][6] With printing, Caxton used the verb for printing books (1477) and the noun for printed form (1480),^[6] but these senses were taken over by print.^[6][11] The noun meaning a mark made by pressure is recorded from 1483, and figuratively, a characteristic mark or stamp, from Shakespeare's Sonnets (1609).^[6] The publisher's imprint, the name, place and date on a title page, dates from 1790, and Etymonline takes it directly from the verb.^[6][2][9] In animal behaviour the verb has been used since 1951 for a young animal's forming a lasting attachment, the process called imprinting.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – verb, to fix in the mind (Chaucer, Boece).^[6][7]
• c. 1386 – verb, to mark by pressure.^[6]
• 1448 – the spelling imprinten.^[7]
• before 1449 – noun, something imprinted (enpreent).^[7]
• 1477 – verb, to print a book (obsolete by 1709).^[6]
• 1483 – noun, a mark made by pressure.^[6]
• 1526 – the noun spelled imprint.^[7]
• 1609 – noun, a characteristic mark (Shakespeare).^[6]
• 1790 – the publisher's name and details on a title page.^[6][2]
• 1951 – animal behaviour sense.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make a mark on a surface by pressing or stamping: The machine imprints a serial number on each part.^[12][4][6]
2. To fix firmly in the mind or memory: The scene was imprinted on his memory.^[4][6]
3. (animal behaviour) To cause a young animal to form a lasting attachment to another animal or an object.^[6][4]
4. (archaic) To print.^[4][6]

Noun

1. A mark made by pressing or stamping: the imprint of a boot in the snow.^[12][4][6]
2. A characteristic mark or lasting effect: Years at sea had left their imprint on him.^[12][6]
3. The publisher's name, often with the place and date of publication, printed in a book, usually on the title page.^[12][4][6]
4. The name under which a publisher issues books.^[4]
5. The printer's name and address on printed matter.^[12][4]

Word family

• imprinter
• reimprint

Related words

• print
• impress
• imprimatur
• press
• imprinting

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins