Etymologically
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intercept

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Pronunciation

  • /ɪntəˈsɛpt/, /ɪntɚˈsɛpt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English intercepten,[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin interceptus, the past participle of intercipiō (“to take or seize between, to seize in passing”),[5][4][6][2] from inter- (“between”) and capiō (“to take, seize”).[3][7][8][9] Etymonline traces the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grasp”).[5] The OED compares French intercepter, in Cotgrave (1611).[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cut off between two points, of an arc or a segment of a line: in Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe (1391), as the past participle intercept.[2][4][7] The Middle English verb also meant to stop corrupt matter from spreading, and to take away authority.[2]

Semantic evolution

The OED records the verb itself from 1545, of stopping the natural course of light, heat or water, and since 1548 of seizing a person, ship or letter on the way;[7] Etymonline also dates the sense "interrupt the passage of" to the 1540s, and Barnhart to about 1540.[5][4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to stop and seize in the way".[10] The mathematical sense of marking off a space between two lines is recorded from before 1560 in Digges.[7] Sporting use, of a player cutting off a pass, is recorded for the verb since 1880[7] and for the noun since 1821.[5][7][11] The noun was used in mathematics for the part of a line between two intersections from 1864, in navigation from 1901, and for an intercepted message or conversation from 1942.[7]

Timeline

  • 1391 – past participle, included between two points (Chaucer).[4][7]
  • 1545 – to stop the course of light, heat or water.[7]
  • 1548 – to seize on the way to a destination.[7]
  • before 1560 – to mark off a space between two points or lines.[7]
  • 1581 – to prevent the effect of an action.[7]
  • 1821 – noun, an interception.[7][11]
  • 1864 – noun, in mathematics, part of a line between intersections.[7]
  • 1880 – verb, in sport, to cut off a pass.[7]
  • 1942 – noun, an intercepted message.[7][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To stop, seize or turn aside a person or thing on the way from one place to another: Customs officers intercepted the shipment at the border.[12][11][7]
  2. To pick up a message or signal meant for someone else, usually secretly.[11]
  3. In sport, to cut off a pass meant for an opponent's teammate.[12][7]
  4. In mathematics, to mark off or enclose part of a line, curve or surface between two points or lines.[12][7]

Noun

  1. An interception, especially of a pass.[11][7]
  2. In mathematics, the part of a coordinate axis between the origin and the point where a graph crosses it.[11][13]
  3. An intercepted message, signal or code.[11][7]

Word family

  • interceptive
  • unintercepted
  • interception
  • interceptor
  • x-intercept
  • y-intercept

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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)
  3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press