Etymologically
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insignificant

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Pronunciation

  • /ˌɪnsɪɡˈnɪfɪkənt/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English in- (“not”) + significant,[2][3][4][5][6] and the OED compares French insignifiant.[2] The base, recorded from the 1570s, is from Latin significāns, the present participle of significō (“to make known, indicate”),[3][7] which comes from signum (“mark, sign”) and the combining form of faciō (“to make”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Without meaning, of words or speech: 1651, in Hobbes's Leviathan.[2][4][3] Etymonline also gives "answering to no purpose" from the 1650s,[3] and Dictionary.com dates the word earlier, to 1620–30.[8]

Semantic evolution

From "meaningless" the word passed to "without weight or effect": the sense "ineffective" lasted from 1661 to 1732,[2][5] while "of no importance, trivial" (1658) and, of a person, "of no standing or influence" (1669) became the main meanings.[2] Johnson (1755) gave "wanting meaning" first and "unimportant, wanting weight, ineffectual" second.[6] The sense "small in size" is recorded from 1748,[2][3] and the OED notes that the sense of unimportance now usually carries some idea of size as well.[2] As a noun the word has meant an unimportant person since 1710, in Steele's Tatler, and a word without meaning since 1816.[2] In east Suffolk dialect it meant "immaterial, all the same to one".[9]

Timeline

  • 1620–30 – first date given by Dictionary.com.[8]
  • 1651 – without meaning, of words or speech.[2][4]
  • 1658 – of no importance; trivial.[2]
  • 1661 – ineffective (obsolete by 1732).[2]
  • 1669 – of a person, without position or influence.[2]
  • 1710 – noun, an unimportant person.[2]
  • 1748 – small in size.[2][3]
  • 1816 – noun, a word without meaning.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Having little or no importance; trivial: an insignificant detail.[10][4][2]
  2. Small in size or amount: The fee was insignificant compared with the repairs.[10][4][2]
  3. Of a person, lacking position, character or influence; contemptible.[4][2]
  4. Having no meaning; meaningless.[10][4][2]
  5. (obsolete, 1661–1732) Having no effect; futile.[4][2]

Noun

  1. An unimportant person or thing.[4][2]

Word family

  • insignificantly
  • insignificancy
  • insignificance

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  9. ^ 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)
  10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins