Etymologically
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instant

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈɪn.stənt/[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Old French instant (“near, imminent; urgent, assiduous”), and directly from Medieval Latin instans (accusative instantem), as in instans tempus “the present moment”,[2][3][4] from Latin instāns (“present, pressing, urgent”), literally “standing near”,[3][2] the present participle of instāre (“to stand near, be present; to urge”),[3][5] from in- “in, at” and stāre “to stand”, from the PIE root Proto-Indo-European *sta- (“to stand”).[3][2] See stand.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun, a particular moment: before 1398, in Trevisa, in Barnhart; the late 14th century in Etymonline.[2][3] The adjective, “urgent, pressing”, is from about 1443 in Barnhart and the 15th century in Hoad.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The adjective first meant pressing or urgent, of persons from about 1477 in the OED;[6] the sense of the present time, now existing, is from 1549,[6] and of the current month from 1547.[6] Close at hand or imminent is from before 1520.[6] Immediate, done at once, is from the 1590s, 1596 in the OED.[3][6] Of processed foods it is from 1912, when instant coffee was advertised as a novelty.[3] Instant replay in televised sports is attested by 1965 and instant messaging by 1994.[3] Instantly first meant urgently, then just now, and in the 16th century came to mean forthwith.[5] Instantaneous is from 1644, on the model of Latin momentaneus.[2] In Scots, instant still meant urgent or persistent in the 19th century.[7]

Timeline

  • before 1398 – a particular moment.[2]
  • c. 1443 – the adjective.[2]
  • 1547 – of the current month.[6]
  • 1590s – immediate.[3]
  • 1644 – instantaneous.[2]
  • 1912 – instant coffee.[3]
  • 1965 – instant replay.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A very short space of time; a moment.
  2. A particular point in time: at the same instant.
  3. Instant coffee or another instant food.

Adjective

  1. Happening at once; immediate.
  2. Of food, prepared so that it can be made ready very quickly: instant coffee.
  3. (dated) Urgent or pressing.
  4. (dated) Of the current month, in dates of letters.

Word family

  • instantness
  • instantize
  • instantly
  • instant replay

Usage notes

In 18th- and 19th-century correspondence instant, often shortened to inst., was used in dates for the current month, as in “the 10th instant”.[3][6]

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 h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ 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 Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ 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)