inlet

Etymology

It is formed from English in + let, the adverb and the verb, after the phrase let in.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The noun is a special use of Middle English inlāte (“entrance, ingress”),^[7][8][9] from the verb inlēten (“to let in”), also inlaten, with the northern form lāten of lēten (“to let”).^[7][9] Weekley thought the noun "creek" might also represent “Yenlet”, a common place name in the Thames Estuary, from Old English gēan- (“against”) and lād (“way”), the source of lode.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Letting in, admission: about 1325, in the Metrical Homilies of the Northern Homily Cycle;^[2] the Middle English noun meant an entrance or way in, as when a woman goes to the bishop's gate "forte haue inlate".^[7] Barnhart dates inlate, permission to enter, to about 1300, and the verb inleten probably to about 1250.^[9][8]

Semantic evolution

The sense "a narrow arm of the sea, a creek" is recorded from the 1570s,^[8][9] and the OED's first quotation comes from William Lambarde's Perambulation of Kent (1596);^[2] older writers said it was first a Kentish term.^[8] The general sense of a way in or entrance follows in 1624, in Henry Wotton,^[2] and Johnson (1755) defined the word only as a "passage; place of ingress; entrance", quoting Wotton and Milton.^[11] Later technical uses are a piece let in or inserted (1798),^[2] the upper opening of a body cavity in anatomy (1828),^[2] and a passage through which a fluid enters a machine, as in inlet valve.^[3][12] The verb meant "to admit" from about 1330 to 1661 and was revived in 1860 for "to insert, inlay".^[2][3] In Lincolnshire dialect an inlet was a branch drain carrying water from a warping-drain onto the land, and in Wigtownshire a road leading into a town.^[13]

Timeline

• early 13th century – Middle English verb inleten, to let in.^[8][7]
• c. 1300 – inlate, permission to enter, an entrance.^[9][8]
• c. 1325 – letting in, admission (now rare).^[2]
• c. 1330 – verb, to admit (obsolete by 1661).^[2]
• 1570s – a narrow arm of the sea, a creek.^[8][9]
• 1596 – first OED quotation for the creek, in Lambarde's Perambulation of Kent.^[2]
• 1624 – a way of admission, an entrance.^[2]
• 1798 – a piece let in or inserted.^[2]
• 1828 – in anatomy, the upper opening of a body cavity.^[2]
• 1860 – verb, to insert or inlay.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A narrow arm of the sea, a lake or a river running into the land; a creek or small bay: The boat sheltered in a rocky inlet.^{[12][6][2][3]}
2. An opening or passage through which a liquid or gas enters a machine or device: the fuel inlet.^[12][3]
3. An entrance or way in.^[12][2][3]
4. Something let in or inserted, such as an inlay.^[12][2]
5. (anatomy) The upper opening of a body cavity, as of the pelvis.^[2]
6. (rare) The act of letting in; admission.^[12][2][3]

Verb

1. To let in or insert one thing into another; to inlay: She inlet the hinge into the door frame.^[6][2][3]
2. (obsolete, c. 1330–1661) To allow to enter; to admit.^[2][3]

Related words

• let
• outlet
• lode

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 g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d 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)
8. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
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 f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)