insert

Pronunciation

• IPA: verb: UK /ɪnˈsɜːt/, US /ɪnˈsɝːt/; noun: UK /ˈɪn.sɜːt/, US /ˈɪn.sɝːt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin īnsertus, past participle of īnserere, to put in, graft,^[2][3][4] from in-, in, and serere, to join together, put in a row (see series).^[2][5][3] Middle English had already borrowed the Latin verb as inseren, late 14th century.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To set, put or place in: 1529, in Sir Thomas More's Supplycacyon of Soulys.^[5][6][3]

Semantic evolution

Putting a word or passage into a text is from 1533,^[6] and in anatomy and botany to attach at a point from 1601.^[6] The noun, something inserted, is from 1893,^[5][2] first a circular placed among the pages of a newspaper or magazine,^[2][6] later also a piece of material set into a garment.^[4] Insertion is from 1578.^[5]

Timeline

• late 14th century – inseren (Middle English).^[2]
• 1529 – to insert.^[5][6]
• 1533 – to put into a text.^[6]
• 1578 – insertion.^[5]
• 1893 – an insert (noun).^[5][2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To put or set into, between or among.
2. To introduce into a text; to interpolate.
3. To place a spacecraft into an orbit or trajectory.

Noun

1. Something inserted, such as a loose advertising sheet in a magazine.

Word family

• inserter
• insertable
• outsert
• preinsert
• reinsert

Related words

• insertion
• series
• assert
• exert
• desert

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 g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press