Etymologically
Log in

improvement

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 00:37. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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

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)