indication

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪndɪˈkeɪʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English indicacion, borrowed from Latin indicātiō (“an indicating; valuation”), indicātiōnem,^[2][3] from indicāre, to point out, show (see indicate), from in-, in, upon, and dicāre, to proclaim (see diction),^[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *deik-, to show.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sign or suggestion, in medicine, probably before 1425, in a translation of Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie;^[2] the early 15th century in Etymonline.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In medicine, a suggestion as to treatment drawn from the symptoms is from 1541.^[4] The general sense, a sign or something that indicates, is first recorded in Bacon's Sylva Sylvarum (1626),^[2][4] and a sign, token or symptom from 1660.^[4] The degree shown by a measuring instrument is from before 1734,^[4] and in mining a sign of valuable ore or oil from 1855.^[4]

Timeline

• before 1425 – a sign (medicine).^[2]
• 1541 – an indication for treatment.^[4]
• 1626 – something that indicates.^[2]
• before 1734 – a reading of an instrument.^[4]
• 1855 – a sign of ore.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Something that indicates or suggests; a sign.
2. The act of indicating.
3. The reading shown by a measuring instrument.
4. (medicine) A sign that a particular treatment is advisable.

Word family

• indicational
• contraindication

Related words

• index
• indicate
• indicator
• indicative
• diction

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press