incline

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English enclinen, later inclinen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman encliner,^[5][6][2][7] also Middle French incliner,^[5][4] and directly borrowed from Latin inclīnō (“to cause to lean, bend, turn”).^[5][3] The Latin verb is formed from in- (“into, towards”) and -clīnō (“to bend, lean”), which occurs only in compounds,^[8][9][5] and which Etymonline traces to a suffixed form of the root Proto-Indo-European *klei- (“to lean”), the source also of lean.^[6][7][8] The French verb is recorded from the first half of the 12th century, for to lower, bend or tilt, and soon also for to bow and to be disposed towards something.^[5][10] The forms with “en-” survived until the 17th century, when the spelling assimilated to Latin prevailed;^[11][8] Barnhart finds incline already in Lydgate's “Troy Book” (before 1420).^[2] The noun is from the verb,^[5][12][6] though the OED compares enclin (“a bow”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To bend the head or body forward, especially in reverence; to bow: about 1300, in a reflexive use in the legend of the 11,000 Virgins.^[5][13] Barnhart's first record, before 1325 in the Cursor Mundi, is the sense to be favourable or willing.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Ayto notes that the figurative use for a person's leaning or preference already existed in Latin.^[8] In English the verb soon spread from bowing to yielding or submitting (before 1400), to directing a course towards something (about 1380, in Chaucer's Boece), and to sloping or slanting, which Barnhart dates to the same text.^[5][2] The sense of having a mental disposition towards something is recorded from the early 15th century,^[6] and the causative "make someone disposed to" is also late Middle English.^[12] Several early senses died out: to set or sink, of the sun and stars (about 1400 to 1677), to bow to a person, and to condescend.^[5] The noun first meant a mental tendency (1596 to 1693),^[5][12] and as a slope or sloping surface it is recorded from 1798 in the OED,^[5] or from 1846, in railway use, in Etymonline and Merriam-Webster.^[6][4] In mining it named a sloping shaft from 1842,^[5] and in the dialect of Northumberland and Durham an inclined plane on an underground roadway.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – reflexive, to bow, bend the head or body forward.^[5]
• before 1325 – to be favourable or willing.^[2]
• c. 1380 – to direct a course towards something; to slope, slant, in Chaucer's Boece.^[5][2]
• c. 1390 – intransitive, to bow.^[5]
• before 1400 – to submit, yield.^[5]
• early 15th century – to have a mental disposition towards something.^[6]
• 1596 – noun, mental tendency, disposition (obsolete after 1693).^[5][12]
• 1798 – noun, a slope, especially on a road or railway.^[5] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date this sense to 1846.^[6][4]
• 1842 – noun, in mining, a sloping shaft.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be disposed or tend towards an opinion, an attitude or a course of action: I incline to agree with the committee.^[15][4][12]
2. To make someone disposed or willing to think or do something: Her honesty inclined the jury to believe her.^[15][12]
3. To lean, slope or slant away from the vertical or horizontal, or to make something do so.^[15][4][12]
4. To bend or lower the head or body forward, as in a bow or to listen.^[15][4][12]
5. incline one's ear: to listen favourably.^[15][12]

Noun

1. A slope or gradient; an inclined plane, as on a road or railway: The cart rolled down the incline.^[15][4][5]
2. In mining, a sloping shaft.^[4][5]
3. A railway on a steep slope on which cars are raised and lowered by a cable.^[4]
4. (obsolete, 1596–1693) A mental tendency or disposition.^[5][12]

Word family

• incliner
• uninclining
• disincline
• inclinable
• preincline
• inclinometer

Related words

• inclination
• climate
• cline
• decline
• recline
• inclined
• lean
• clinic

Usage notes

The verb is stressed on the second syllable; the noun usually on the first, though the second is also heard.^[15][4]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
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 d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ 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)
15. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins