internship

Etymology

It is formed from English intern + -ship.^[2][3][4][5] The noun intern is borrowed from French interne (“assistant doctor”), a noun use of the adjective interne (“internal”), from Latin internus (“within, inward”).^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The position of an intern, or the period during which it is held: 1838, in the American Journal of Medical Science.^[2][7] Etymonline dates the word only from 1899,^[3] and Dictionary.com from 1900–05.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word belonged at first to medicine, where an intern was an assistant resident physician, a doctor in training in a hospital, a use of intern that Etymonline dates to 1879, in American English.^[3] It spread with intern itself: according to Etymonline the noun was extended to other professions, at first teaching, from 1963,^[3] and the OED now also covers the system under which students and trainees gain work experience in a profession.^[2] Merriam-Webster also records the sense of a grant that pays for such a period of training.^[4] Chambers labels the word North American.^[8]

Timeline

• 1838 – the position or period of service of a medical intern.^[2]
• 1879 – intern, an assistant doctor in training, in American English.^[3]
• 1899 – Etymonline's first date for internship.^[3]
• 1963 – intern extended to trainees in other professions.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The position of an intern, or the period during which a person serves as one: She spent her internship at a small law firm.^[9][4][2]
2. (medicine) The stage of a doctor's training spent working in a hospital under supervision.^[4][2]
3. A period of supervised work in a business or other organization, done to gain practical experience.^[4][2]
4. A grant that pays for such a period of training.^[4]

Related words

• intern
• internal
• interior

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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 Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins