introspection

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin intrōspectio,^[2] a noun of action from Latin intrōspiciō (“to look into, examine closely”),^[2][3][4][5] formed on its past participle intrōspectus.^[4][6][7] The Latin verb is from intrō- (“inward”) and speciō (“to look at”),^[3][4][8][7] the second from Proto-Indo-European *spek- (“to observe”).^[3] Barnhart relates the prefix to inter- (“between”).^[4] The OED compares inspection,^[2][9] and Barnhart refers to spy, from the same root.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Close inspection or examination of something, especially with the mind: before 1676, in M. Hale's The Primitive Origination of Mankind.^[2][10] Barnhart dates it to before 1677, Merriam-Webster to about 1677 and Etymonline to the 1670s.^[4][6][3]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant looking into things in general, a sense that the OED considers obsolete except when the object is the mind or its workings.^[2] Johnson (1755) still defined it as "a view of the inside", quoting Hale on the mind's reflection on itself.^[11] The modern sense, with no object named, looking into one's own mind and observing one's own thoughts and feelings, is recorded from 1807, in a letter of J. Jebb.^[2][3][10] In psychology it came to mean such self-observation, including one's sensations and perceptions, carried out under controlled experimental conditions, in contrast to extrospection.^[6] The verb introspect followed in 1683,^[2] and introspective in 1820.^[4][9]

Timeline

• before 1676 – close inspection or examination of something, especially with the mind.^[2][10]
• 1807 – looking into one's own mind; examination of one's own thoughts and feelings.^[2][3][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The examination of one's own thoughts, feelings and mental states; self-examination: Long hours alone on the boat led him to introspection.^[5][6][2]
2. (psychology) Self-observation of one's own sensory and perceptual experience, carried out under controlled experimental conditions.^[6]
3. (obsolete) Close inspection or scrutiny of something.^[2][12]

Word family

• introspectional
• introspect
• introspective
• introspectively
• introspectiveness
• introspectionist
• introspectionism

Related words

• extrospection
• inspection
• spy
• species

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press