inject

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin iniectus (“thrown in”), the past participle of iniciō (“to throw in or on”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed from in- (“in”) and iaciō (“to throw”), which takes the form -iciō in compounds.^[3][4][5][7] Etymonline traces the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *yē- (“to throw, impel”),^[5][7] and Hoad relates it to a Greek verb for throwing.^[8] Barnhart thinks it was in some uses also a back-formation from injection, which is older in English.^[3][8] injecter, with which the OED compares it, is recorded only from the 18th century.^[2] It is related to jet.^[3][6][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To throw or cast something on something: 1599, in a translation of Gaebelkhover's Boock of Physicke (obsolete by 1725).^[2][10] The sense of forcing a fluid into a cavity or the body, as with a syringe, appears in 1601, in Holland's translation of Pliny.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word began in medical use around 1600,^[5] and its literal sense of throwing in soon gave way to that of forcing liquid into a passage or cavity.^[2][10] Figurative use, to throw in a thought, a remark or a feeling from outside, is recorded from 1639,^[2] and Johnson (1755) quoted Glanvill on angels who "inject thoughts into our minds".^[11] From 1731 it also meant to fill a vessel or body by injection, as anatomists did with coloured fluids.^[2][4] The 20th century added scientific senses: feeding a current or a signal into a circuit, or charged particles into an accelerator (1939), and putting a spacecraft into orbit (1961).^[2][12]

Timeline

• 1599 – to throw or cast on (obsolete by 1725).^[2]
• 1601 – to force a fluid into a passage or cavity, as with a syringe.^[2][3][4]
• 1611 – to throw in, in general (obsolete by 1646).^[2]
• 1639 – figurative, to introduce a thought or remark.^[2]
• 1731 – to fill a cavity or body by injection.^[2]
• 1939 – to feed a current or particles into a device.^[2]
• 1961 – to put a spacecraft into orbit.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To force a fluid, such as a drug or vaccine, into the body with a syringe or similar instrument; also, to treat a person or animal in this way: The vet injected the dog with a sedative.^[12][4][2]
2. To force a liquid or gas into a cavity, passage or machine: fuel injected into the cylinder.^[4][2]
3. To introduce a new quality or element into something: The new coach injected some urgency into training.^[12][2]
4. To put in a remark or idea; to interject.^[12][2]
5. To put a rocket or satellite into orbit.^[12][2]
6. (obsolete, 1599–1725) To throw or cast something on something.^[2][10]

Word family

• injector
• injectable
• microinject
• reinject
• uninjected

Related words

• injection
• jet
• eject
• reject
• project
• interject

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 q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins