inject
Pronunciation
- /ɪnˈd͡ʒɛkt/[1]
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
- 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]
- To force a liquid or gas into a cavity, passage or machine: fuel injected into the cylinder.[4][2]
- To introduce a new quality or element into something: The new coach injected some urgency into training.[12][2]
- To put in a remark or idea; to interject.[12][2]
- To put a rocket or satellite into orbit.[12][2]
- (obsolete, 1599–1725) To throw or cast something on something.[2][10]
Word family
- injector
- injectable
- microinject
- reinject
- uninjected
Related words
References
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
- ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
- ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
- ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins