Etymologically
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integration

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 08:28. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˌɪn.tɪˈɡɹeɪ.ʃən/ (UK); /ˌɪn.təˈɡɹeɪ.ʃən/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French intégration or directly borrowed from Late Latin integrātio (“renewal, restoration”),[2][3][4] from integrāre (“to make whole; to renew”) (see integrate), from integer (“whole”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The making up of a whole by combining its parts: 1620 in the OED, the 1610s in Etymonline.[5][2]

Semantic evolution

In mathematics, finding the integral of a function is from 1727–41.[5] In psychology, the combining of diverse parts into a complex whole is from 1855.[5] The social sense, bringing groups previously kept apart into equal membership of society, opposed to segregation, is from 1934 in Etymonline, 1940 in the OED.[2][5] The joining of nations or economies follows.[6][7]

Timeline

  • 1620 – combining parts into a whole.[5]
  • 1727 – in mathematics.[5]
  • 1855 – in psychology.[5]
  • 1934 – racial integration.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The act of combining parts into a whole.
  2. The bringing of people of different races or groups into equal membership of a society; desegregation.
  3. (mathematics) The process of finding an integral.

Word family

  • reintegration
  • integrationist
  • integral calculus
  • constant of integration
  • integration by parts
  • large-scale integration
  • medium-scale integration
  • integer
  • integrable
  • integral
  • integrand
  • integrate
  • integrator
  • integrity
  • disintegration

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins