Etymologically
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inception

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Pronunciation

  • /ɪnˈsɛpʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English incepcion,[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin inceptiō (“a beginning, an undertaking”),[5][6][2][7][8] perhaps also through Old French inception.[6][3][8][9] The Latin noun of action is formed from inceptus, the past participle of incipiō (“to begin, take in hand”),[5][2][6][7] from in- (“in, on”) and capiō (“to take, seize”),[6][2][3][10] from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grasp”).[6][2] Weekley compares German anfangen (“to begin”), from fangen (“to take, catch”).[10] It is related to incipient, incept and inceptive.[8][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A beginning, a commencement: probably before 1425, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon, according to Barnhart;[3][11] the OED's first record is from before 1483, in the Liber Niger.[5]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its first sense, the act of entering on an undertaking or a stage of existence, which is now its only common one.[5][12][13] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as "beginning", quoting Bacon on "the inception of putrefaction".[14] At Oxford and Cambridge inception was from about 1680 the act of incepting, of being formally admitted to a degree, compared with the American commencement.[5] A rare sense, "the act of taking in", appears in Poe before 1849.[5]

Timeline

  • before 1425 – incepcion, a beginning.[3]
  • before 1483 – the beginning of an undertaking or a stage of existence.[5]
  • c. 1680 – at the universities, the act of incepting for a degree.[5]
  • before 1849 – the act of taking in (rare).[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The beginning or start of something, such as an institution, a project or an idea: The club has kept a register of members since its inception.[12][13][5]
  2. At the older English universities, the act of incepting, being admitted to a degree.[5]

Usage notes

Dictionary.com lists inception together with concept and conception as words that are easily confused.[4]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.