Etymologically
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institution

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 02:34. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˌɪn.stɪˈtʃuː.ʃən/, /ˌɪn.stɪˈtjuː.ʃən/, US /ˌɪn.stəˈtuː.ʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English institucioun, borrowed from Old French institucion (“foundation; thing established”),[2][3][4] from Latin īnstitūtiō (“arrangement; instruction, education”), from īnstituere (“to set up, establish”).[2][4] It is related to institute and constitution.[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the church, the establishment of a clergyman in a cure of souls: about 1380 in the OED.[5] The action of establishing or founding, as a government or a religious order: about 1400 in Etymonline, about 1460 in the OED.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Training and instruction is from 1531.[5] An established law, custom or practice is from the 1550s,[2] and an organization founded for a purpose, such as a charity, from 1707.[2][4] The jocular use for anything that has been around a long time, as of a person who is an institution, is from 1837.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1380 – institution of a clergyman.[5]
  • c. 1400 – the act of founding.[2]
  • 1531 – instruction.[5]
  • 1550s – an established custom.[2]
  • 1707 – an organization.[2]
  • 1837 – a familiar long-standing figure.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An important organization, such as a university, bank or hospital.
  2. An established custom or practice in a society: the institution of marriage.
  3. The act of starting or establishing something.
  4. A hospital or home for people needing special care.
  5. (informal) A person or thing long associated with a place.

Word family

  • counterinstitution
  • institutionary
  • noninstitution
  • reinstitution
  • peculiar institution

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 k 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 c d Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press