innovate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin innovō (“to renew, alter”), through its past participle innovātus,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} probably also borrowed from Middle French innover.^[4][7] The Latin verb is formed from in- (“in, into”) and novō (“to make new”), from novus (“new”),^[2][3][7][8] the source of novel and cognate with new.^[3][8] The French verb is recorded from 1322.^[2] Barnhart records innovate earlier, in 1474, as a noun for something made to replace something else.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To introduce something new for the first time: 1548, in Udall's translation of Erasmus's Paraphrase of the New Testament.^[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

Early on the verb was transitive: one innovated a thing, either bringing it in as new (1548) or changing it into something new (1561), the latter close to the Latin sense "to renew".^[2][5] The renewing sense was rare after 1750 and died out in the early 19th century;^[2][5] Scott's not to be altered, innovated, or even discussed is a late example.^[2][5] Johnson (1755) gave "to bring in something not known before", quoting Bacon's Time indeed innovateth greatly, and "to change by introducing novelties".^[9] The intransitive use, to introduce new things or alter established practice, dates from 1595, in Daniel,^[2][3] and Burke wrote To innovate is not to reform.^[5] It is now the usual sense, especially of businesses and designers who bring in new methods or products.^[6][10] The transitive sense survives in commerce, of bringing a product onto the market.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1474 – innovate, noun, something made as a replacement.^[4]
• 1548 – to introduce something as new.^[2][4]
• 1561 – to change a thing into something new; to renew (obsolete by 1817).^[2]
• 1595 – intransitive, to introduce novelties, to make changes in what is established.^[2][3]
• 1598 – innovator.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To introduce new methods, ideas or products; to do something in a new way: Small firms often innovate faster than large ones.^[6][10][2]
2. To introduce something new, especially to bring a new product onto the market.^[2][5]
3. (obsolete, 1561–1817) To change a thing into something new; to renew.^[2][5]

Word family

• innovator
• innovatory

Related words

• innovative
• innovation
• novel
• novelty
• novice
• renovate
• new

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins