Etymologically
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insure

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Pronunciation

  • US: /ɪnˈʃʊɚ/, /ɪnˈʃɝ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English insuren, a variant of ensuren with the prefix in- in place of en-,[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Anglo-Norman enseurer (“to secure, assure”),[4][6][7][5] formed from en- (“make”) and seur (“safe, secure”),[6] itself from Latin sēcūrus (“safe”), the source of secure and sure.[8] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from 1271–72, already meaning to secure, to assure and to guarantee.[9] The AHD and Ayto take enseurer as a variant of asseurer, the source of assure,[7][8] and Merriam-Webster takes insure itself as an alteration of Middle English assuren.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make a person sure of something; to give security to a person: about 1440, in the Promptorium Parvulorum,[2] although Barnhart has insuren, to give or exact a pledge, from about 1412.[4][11]

Semantic evolution

For two centuries insure was used in all the senses of ensure: to make someone sure, to pledge one's word, to guarantee (before 1500) and, rarely, to betroth (1530).[2][4] The commercial sense, to secure payment in the event of loss or damage in return for a premium, appears in 1635;[2][4] from the 17th century it replaced assure, which had been used for all kinds of insurance in the 16th century.[12][8][6] By 1680 it was also used intransitively, of undertaking insurance risks.[2] From 1686 it again meant simply to make certain,[2] and since 1825 to make safe against something.[2] In Yorkshire and Suffolk dialect it still meant to assure or to make sure of something.[13] The noun insurance followed in 1651.[11]

Timeline

  • c. 1412 – insuren, to give or exact a pledge.[4]
  • c. 1440 – to make a person sure of something (obsolete by 1686).[2]
  • 1530 – to betroth (obsolete).[2]
  • 1635 – to secure payment for loss or damage in return for a premium.[2][4]
  • 1651 – insurance.[11]
  • 1680 – to undertake insurance risks.[2]
  • 1686 – to make certain, to guarantee.[2]
  • 1825 – to make safe against something.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To arrange or buy insurance for property, a life or a person, so that money is paid in case of loss, damage or death: They insured the van against theft.[7][14][10]
  2. To provide insurance for someone, as a company does: That firm insures small shops.[7][14]
  3. To sell insurance, or to take it out.[7][2]
  4. (chiefly US) To make certain or secure; to ensure.[14][7][2]
  5. (obsolete, c. 1440–1686) To make a person sure of something; to assure.[2][15]

Word family

Usage notes

The AHD notes that assure, ensure and insure all mean "to make secure or certain", but only assure is used of setting a person's mind at rest;[16][7] ensure and insure are generally interchangeable, though only insure is widely used in American English for insurance against risk.[16][7] Grammarphobia adds that some usage and style manuals restrict insure to the financial sense, while British dictionaries describe its use for "make certain" as American.[17][14]

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  13. ^ 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)
  14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  15. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  16. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  17. ^ O'Conner, Patricia T.; Kellerman, Stewart, The Grammarphobia Blog, grammarphobia.com, p. "Assure, ensure, and insure", 14 November 2006