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ingestion

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Etymology and origin of the English word ingestion

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1620 T. Venner, Via Recta More words from the 17th century
Borrowed from
Latin ingestio
Ultimate origin
Latin gerō

Pronunciation

  • /ɪnˈd͡ʒɛst͡ʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin ingestiō (“a pouring in, a putting in”),[2][3][4][5] a noun of action from ingerō (“to carry in, pour in”),[2][3] formed from in- (“into”) and gerō (“to carry”).[3][6] The OED compares French ingestion.[2] The verb ingest is recorded from 1617.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The taking in of food: 1620, in T. Venner's Via Recta;[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1610s,[3] the Shorter Oxford to the early 17th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined it as the act of throwing food into the stomach, with a quotation from Harvey about the daily ingestion of milk.[7] The word has kept that physiological sense, widened to any taking in of a substance by an organism,[5][1] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged adds the taking of air, gas or liquid into an engine.[4] Wiktionary also records the intake of data into a computer system.[1]

Timeline

  • 1620 – the taking in of food.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The taking of food, drink or another substance into the body, by swallowing or absorption: Accidental ingestion of the cleaner can cause burns.[4][5][2]
  2. The taking in of air, gas, liquid or foreign objects into an engine.[4][1]
  3. The intake of data into a computer system.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Ingestion.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/ingestion. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·