ingredient

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ingrediēns (“entering”) (stem ingredient-),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the present participle of ingredior (“to go in, enter”), formed from in- (“in”) and gradior (“to step, go”).^[4][5][7][8] The OED thinks the noun sense came at least partly through ingrédient, recorded from 1508,^[2][9] and Johnson gave both the French and the Latin word as sources.^[10] The same Latin verb gave ingress, and its past participle gave aggression, congress and digress.^[8][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Something that goes into a mixture: Barnhart dates it probably before 1425 and Etymonline to the early 15th century;^[4][5] the OED's first example is in John Russell's Boke of Nurture (about 1460).^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word was at first used mainly of the components of medicines and other preparations,^[2][8] and Johnson (1755) still noted that it was commonly used of the simples of a medicine.^[10] In the 17th century it briefly had senses closer to the Latin verb, "one who steps in" (1614) and "a thing that penetrates" (1624),^[2] and Shakespeare used it in Othello for the chief ingredient of something, a use now obsolete.^[2] As an adjective, "forming part of a whole", it has been used since the 15th century but is now archaic.^[5][11] Today it is used above all of the foods in a recipe, and figuratively of any element that contributes to a result.^[12][6]

Timeline

• early 15th century – a component of a mixture.^[4][5]
• c. 1460 – the OED's first example.^[2]
• 1614 – one who steps in (obsolete).^[2]
• 1642 – adjective: forming a component part.^[2]
• 1755 – Johnson: used commonly of the simples of a medicine.^[10]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. One of the foods or substances combined to make a particular dish, medicine or other mixture: Mix all the dry ingredients before adding the eggs.
2. A component or element of something: Patience is an essential ingredient of good teaching.

Related words

• ingress
• grade
• gradient
• progress

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins