Etymologically
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insurance

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:29. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ɪnˈʃʊə.rəns/, /ɪnˈʃɔː.rəns/, US /ɪnˈʃʊr.əns/[1]

Etymology

It is a variant of ensurance “assurance, pledge, guarantee”,[2][3] borrowed from Old French enseürance (“assurance”),[2][3][4] from enseürer, from en- “to make” and seür “safe, secure”, the source of sure.[2] Merriam-Webster and others form it in English from insure and -ance.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Betrothal, an engagement to marry: before 1553[6] or the 1550s;[2] the SOED finds ensurance, “assurance”, in late Middle English.[3]

Semantic evolution

The commercial sense, security against loss or death in return for regular payment, is from 1651,[6][5] the 1650s.[2] The older word for this was assurance, from the late 16th century, which in Britain still names life insurance.[2][6] The premium paid is called insurance from 1666,[6] and the sum to be recovered from 1838.[6] Insuring workers against sickness or unemployment, as in national insurance, is from 1878.[6] Figurative use, a measure taken against possible trouble, is a later sense,[7][8] and in sport an insurance run or goal, which puts the other side out of reach of a tie, is from 1954.[5]

Timeline

  • before 1553 – an engagement to marry.[6]
  • 1651 – insurance of property or life.[6][5]
  • 1660 – a means of ensuring.[6]
  • 1666 – the premium.[6]
  • 1878 – insurance of workers.[6]
  • 1954 – adjective, of a score that protects a lead.[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An arrangement by which a company pays compensation for loss, damage, illness or death in return for regular payments, a premium.
  2. The business of providing such cover.
  3. The amount for which something is insured, or the premium paid.
  4. Something done as protection against possible trouble.

Adjective

  1. (sports) Of a score that puts a team's lead beyond a tying score.

Word family

  • coinsurance
  • insure
  • insurer
  • interinsurance
  • noninsurance
  • reinsurance
  • self-insurance
  • underinsurance

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster