intersection

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɪntəɹˌsɛkʃən/, /ˌɪntəɹˈsɛkʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French intersection and directly Latin intersectiō (“a cutting asunder”),^[2][3][4] from the past participle stem of intersecō (“to cut asunder”) (see intersect),^[2][4] from inter- (“between”) and secō (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act or fact of crossing, at first a term in geometry: 1559 in the OED and Merriam-Webster, the 1550s in Etymonline.^[5][3][2]

Semantic evolution

The place where two things cross is also from 1559,^[5] and a crossroads, chiefly North American, from 1864.^[2][5] In logic, the relation of two overlapping classes is from 1909,^[5] and in set theory the set of elements common to two sets is in modern dictionaries.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 1559 – crossing; point of crossing.^[5]
• 1864 – a crossroads.^[2]
• 1909 – intersection in logic.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A place where roads or other things cross; a junction.
2. The act of intersecting, or the state of being intersected.
3. (mathematics) The point or points where lines or surfaces cross; the set of elements common to two or more sets.

Word family

• intersectional

Related words

• intersect
• intersegment
• section
• sect
• segment
• insect

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f 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