Etymologically
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imprint

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈɪm.pɹɪnt/[1]

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

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