inspection

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪnˈspɛkʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English inspecioun, borrowed from Old French inspeccion (“inspection, examination”),^[2][3][4] from Latin inspectio (“a looking into”), from the past participle stem of inspicere (“to look into, examine”) (see inspect),^[2] from in-, into, and specere, to look, from PIE Proto-Indo-European *spek- (“to observe”).^[2] Old English had onbesceawung as a loan translation of Latin inspectio.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Careful examination, looking narrowly into: 1390 in the OED, the late 14th century in Etymonline.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

Sight or spectacle (about 1430) and insight or perception (about 1500) are obsolete senses.^[5] A plan of a piece of ground that has been inspected is from 1694,^[5] and a district under an inspector from 1888.^[5] Official examination, as of troops, is a later specialized sense.^[6][4]

Timeline

• 1390 – careful examination.^[5]
• c. 1430 – a sight (obsolete).^[5]
• c. 1500 – insight (obsolete).^[5]
• 1694 – a plan of inspected ground.^[5]
• 1888 – an inspector's district.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act of inspecting; careful examination.
2. An official examination or review, as of troops.

Word family

• inspectional
• preinspection
• reinspection

Related words

• inspect
• inspector
• spectacle
• aspect
• respect
• suspect

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ 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 i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin