interdisciplinary

Etymology

It is formed from English inter- + disciplinary.^[2][3][4][5] The Shorter Oxford analyses it as inter- with discipline and -ary.^[6] Disciplinary is from Medieval Latin disciplinarius,^[3][2] from Latin disciplīna (“instruction, teaching, knowledge”),^[3][2] from discipulus (“pupil, student”), the source of disciple.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to two or more branches of learning: 1931, in the Library Quarterly,^[2][7] the same journal in which the OED first finds disciplinary used of a branch of learning.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates interdisciplinary to 1926,^[4] Etymonline to 1937,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1935–40.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word rests on the sense of discipline "branch of learning", which is much older than the adjective: disciplinary itself had meant "relating to learning or training" since about 1487 and "relating to rules of conduct" since then too, but was used of academic fields only from 1931.^[2] The new adjective named research or teaching that draws on, or contributes to, more than one such field.^[2][4] Later in the 20th century it produced the noun interdisciplinarity and the noun and adjective interdiscipline.^[6]

Timeline

• 1926 – first known use, according to Merriam-Webster.^[4]
• 1931 – of two or more disciplines, in the Library Quarterly.^[2]
• 1937 – first date given by Etymonline.^[3]
• late 20th century – interdisciplinarity.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Involving or combining two or more academic disciplines or fields of study: an interdisciplinary research centre.^[8][4][9][2]
2. Drawing on, or contributing to, more than one branch of knowledge.^[4][2]

Word family

• interdisciplinarity

Related words

• discipline
• disciplinary
• disciple
• multidisciplinary

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins