intact

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪnˈtækt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin intāctus (“untouched, unhurt, undefiled”), possibly through Middle French intact,^[2][3][4][5] from in-, not, and tāctus, past participle of tangere, to touch (see tangent and tact).^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Untouched, unimpaired, whole: about 1450 in the OED, the mid-15th century in Etymonline;^[6][3] before 1500 in Barnhart.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The Latin word also meant chaste and unsubdued,^[3] and in English intact can still mean having the hymen unbroken, or of an animal not castrated.^[7] Intactness is from 1890.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1450 – untouched, unimpaired.^[6]
• 1890 – intactness.^[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Not damaged or impaired; whole and complete.
2. Having all its physical parts; not castrated, or with the hymen unbroken.

Word family

• intactly
• intactness

Related words

• tact
• tangent
• contact
• intangible
• entire

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d 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