induction

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English induccioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French induction, recorded in French from the 14th century,^[2][5] or directly borrowed from Latin inductiō (“a leading in, introduction, admission”),^[5][2][6][7] a noun of action from inductus, the past participle of indūcō (“to lead in; to induce”),^[2][8][3] the source of induce and induct.^[2][7] The Latin verb is formed from in- (“in, into”) and dūcō (“to lead”),^[9][2] which Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary trace to Proto-Indo-European *deuk- (“to lead”).^[2][9] As a term of logic, the Latin noun translated Ancient Greek ἐπαγωγή (epagōgḗ, “a bringing on or in”), from ἐπάγειν (epágein, “to bring on or in”), in Cicero's rendering of Aristotle.^[8][2] In Anglo-Norman the noun is recorded from about 1292, for admission to property and the formal admission of a clergyman.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The formal installing of a clergyman in possession of a church and its revenues: about 1380, in a work of Wyclif's;^[5][11] the Middle English Dictionary records the word with this sense and for putting someone in possession of an inheritance.^[4] Etymonline gives a late 14th-century sense "advancement toward the grace of God", and the Middle English Dictionary likewise lists the stages through which a lower angel passes towards the grace of God.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The idea of "leading in" spread from the church to any formal installing in an office or possession (before 1464),^[5][11] and in 1934 to enlistment into military service in the United States.^[5][2] The logical sense, reasoning from particular instances to a general rule, is in Middle English from the early 15th century;^[2][4][11] Etymonline contrasts it with deduction, which runs from the general principle to the individual fact.^[2] From it grew the citing of many separate facts to prove a general statement (1551)^[5][11] and, in the 19th century, mathematical induction, the proof of a theorem by showing that it holds for each next case of a series.^[7][11] Other 16th-century senses, inducement by persuasion (1490–1588), an initiation into knowledge (1526) and an introduction or preface to a book (1533), are now obsolete, rare or archaic;^[5][11] Johnson (1755) gave "introduction; entrance" first, quoting Shakespeare.^[12] The physical sense, the producing of an electric or magnetic state in a body by the nearness of another, without contact, dates from 1801,^[2][11] and the bringing on of a process, especially of labour in childbirth, from the 19th century.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – the formal installing of a clergyman in a church and its revenues.^[5][11]
• early 15th century – in logic, reasoning from particular cases to a general conclusion.^[2][4]
• before 1464 – a formal installing in any office or possession.^[5]
• 1490 – inducement by persuasion (obsolete by 1588).^[5][11]
• 1533 – an introduction or preface to a book (now archaic).^[5]
• 1551 – the adducing of separate facts to prove a general statement.^[5][11]
• 1801 – electric or magnetic induction.^[2][11]
• 1838 – in mathematics, proof by induction.^[11]
• 1871 – in Presbyterian churches, the placing of an ordained minister in a new charge.^[5][11]
• 1934 – induction into military service, in the United States.^[5][2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The formal installation of a person in an office, a position or a church living, or the ceremony that marks it: her induction into the hall of fame.
2. (US) Enlistment into military service.
3. (logic) Reasoning from particular observed cases to a general conclusion or law; a conclusion reached in this way; compare deduction.
4. (mathematics) A method of proof that shows a theorem true for a first case and true for each next case whenever it is true for the one before.
5. (physics) The producing of electricity or magnetism in a body by the nearness of a charged, magnetized or current-carrying body, without contact.
6. The bringing on of a process, especially the artificial starting of labour in childbirth.
7. In an internal-combustion engine, the drawing of the fuel and air mixture into the cylinder.

Word family

• inductionless
• self-induction
• preinduction
• reinduction
• electromagnetic induction
• mutual induction
• induction coil
• induction furnace

Related words

• induce
• induct
• deduction
• inductive
• inductance
• conduct
• duke

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e 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)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.