improvement

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪmˈpruːv.mənt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English emprowement, borrowed from Anglo-Norman emprowement,^[2][3][4] from emprouwer “to turn to profit”,^[2] the source of improve, based on Old French prou “profit”, ultimately from Latin prōdest “it is of advantage”.^[5] The spelling changed under the influence of prove.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Profitable use or management, profit: about 1320 in the OED, the mid-15th century in Etymonline.^[6][2] Making land more profitable, by enclosure or cultivation, is from 1302 in the OED.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Profitable investment of money is from 1655.^[6] A piece of improved land is from 1640,^[6] and buildings and fences put on land to raise its value from 1773.^[2][7] The general meaning “making better, betterment” is from the 1640s,^[2] bodily or mental cultivation from 1711,^[6] and something better than something else from 1712.^[2] In West Yorkshire schools an improvement was a specimen of writing a boy brought home to show his progress.^[8]

Timeline

• 1302 – making land profitable.^[6]
• c. 1320 – profitable use.^[6]
• 1640s – making better.^[2]
• 1712 – something better.^[2]
• 1773 – buildings on land.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act or process of making something better, or of becoming better.
2. A change or addition that makes something better.
3. Something that is better than an earlier thing.
4. Work that adds to the value of land or a building.

Word family

• nonimprovement

Related words

• improve
• prove
• proud

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)