Etymologically
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incomplete

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 16:27. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɪn.kəmˈpliːt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English incompleet, borrowed from Old French incomplette and directly Late Latin incomplētus,[2][3][4] from in- (“not”) and complētus (“filled, finished”) (see complete).[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not fully formed or finished: about 1380 in the OED, probably 1384 in Wycliffe's writings in Barnhart, the late 14th century in Etymonline.[6][2][5]

Semantic evolution

Technical uses include the botanical incomplete flower, lacking one of the usual parts (1760),[6] and in logic and mathematics a formal system that contains true statements it cannot prove, from 1932.[6] In American football an incomplete pass is one not caught.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1380 – incomplete.[6]
  • 1656 – to incomplete (verb, rare).[6]
  • 1760 – incomplete flower.[6]
  • 1932 – incomplete system (logic).[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Not complete or finished; lacking a part.
  2. (logic, mathematics) Of a formal system, containing statements that can be neither proved nor disproved within it.
  3. (American football) Of a pass, not caught.

Word family

  • incompletely
  • incompleteness
  • subincomplete
  • incomplete dominance
  • incomplete flower

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  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. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin