Etymologically
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inlet

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Pronunciation

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]

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)