innovation

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˌɪn.əˈveɪ.ʃən/, /ˌɪn.əʊˈveɪ.ʃən/, US /ˌɪn.əˈveɪ.ʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English innovacion, borrowed from Late Latin innovātiō (accusative innovationem),^[2][3][4] probably also through Middle French,^[5] a noun of action from the past participle stem of innovāre (“to change; to renew”) (see innovate),^[2][4] from in- “into” and novus “new” (see new).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Restoration or renewal: the mid-15th century in Etymonline.^[2]

Semantic evolution

A novel change, something new introduced into an established arrangement, is from the 1540s, 1548 in the OED,^[2][6] and the action of introducing novelties from 1553.^[6] In the late 16th and early 17th centuries it could also mean a political revolution or rebellion, after Latin novae res.^[6] In Scots law it is the substitution of a new obligation for an old one (1861),^[6] and in botany the growth of a new shoot from 1835.^[6] In commerce, introducing a new product to the market is from 1939.^[6]

Timeline

• mid-15th century – renewal.^[2]
• 1548 – a novel change.^[6]
• 1553 – introducing novelties.^[6]
• 1601 – a rebellion (obsolete).^[6]
• 1939 – a new product.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A new method, idea, device or product.
2. The act of introducing new things or ways of doing things.

Word family

• innovational

Related words

• innovate
• innovative
• innovator
• new
• novel
• novice
• renovate

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press