incontinence

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English incontinence, also incontinens,^[2] borrowed from Old French incontinence or directly borrowed from Latin incontinentia (“lack of self-restraint, inability to contain”).^{[3][4][5][6][7]} The French word is recorded from the 12th century,^[3][4] and in Anglo-Norman from the second quarter of the 13th century, already for an inability to hold or retain something, for excessive sexual desire and for failure to keep a religious rule.^[8] The Latin noun is from incontinēns (“immoderate, intemperate”),^[4][6][9] formed from in- (“not”) and continēns, the present participle of contineō (“to hold back, hold together”),^[4] from com- and teneō (“to hold”).^[4] The OED compares the medical phrase incontinentia urinae in Pliny.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lack of restraint of the bodily appetites, especially sexual desire; unchastity: c. 1384, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible, where Paul warns lest Satan tempt the Corinthians "for ȝoure incontynence".^[3][2] The 1989 edition of the OED dated it to 1382,^[10][4] and Etymonline to the late 14th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the early 15th century the word also meant an inability to keep a religious rule.^[2][4] The general sense, a lack of self-restraint in anything or an inability to hold something in, is recorded from 1836.^[3] The medical sense, an inability to control the passing of urine or faeces, appears in William Smellie's treatise on midwifery (1754–64).^[3][4]

Timeline

• c. 1384 – lack of restraint of sexual desire, unchastity.^[3][2]
• early 15th century – inability to keep a religious rule.^[4]
• 1754 – inability to control urination or defecation.^[3][4]
• 1836 – lack of self-restraint in general.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Inability to control the passing of urine or faeces: Many patients suffer some incontinence after the operation.^[6][11][3]
2. Lack of self-restraint; failure to resist desire or impulse, especially sexual desire: a life of incontinence.^[6][11][3]
3. Inability to hold something in: an incontinence of speech.^[3]

Word family

• stress incontinence

Related words

• incontinent
• continence
• continent
• contain
• incontinency

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster