Etymologically
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intact

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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

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