invade

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin invādō (“to go into, enter violently, attack”),^[2][3][4][5] formed from in- (“in, into”) and vādō (“to go, walk”).^[2][3][4] Barnhart takes it partly from Middle French invader,^[6] and the American Heritage Dictionary from Old French invader;^[7] Klein gives a Middle English infinitive invaden.^[8] The Latin verb is cognate with Old Norse vaða and Old English wadan, and so related to wade.^[8][6][4] Etymonline compares evade.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make an invasion or attack: 1491, in an Act of Henry VII, the OED's first record.^[2][6] The Oxford Dictionary of English gives the early sense as attacking or assaulting a person.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

The transitive sense, to enter a country with armed force, is recorded from before 1513,^[2] and the sense of assaulting a person from 1513 until 1753;^[2] the Shorter Oxford calls that sense obsolete except in dialect,^[11] and Wright records it in Scots as "to assail".^[12] From 1548 diseases, sounds and feelings could invade; physical agents followed in 1608, in Shakespeare's King Lear.^[2] To encroach on rights, liberties or property is recorded from about 1521.^[2] Spenser used it in Latin senses such as "to enter" and "to traverse a distance" (1590).^[2] A noun invade, an invasion, is recorded only in 1591.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined the verb as "to attack a country; to make an hostile entrance".^[13] Collins adds the ecological sense of plants becoming established where they are not native.^[14]

Timeline

• 1491 – intransitive, to make an invasion or attack.^[2][6]
• before 1513 – transitive, to enter a country with armed force.^[2]
• 1513 – to assault a person (obsolete by 1753).^[2]
• c. 1521 – to encroach on rights or property.^[2]
• 1548 – of diseases, sounds or feelings.^[2]
• 1591 – a noun invade, invasion.^[2]
• 1608 – of physical agents.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To enter a country or region with armed forces to conquer or occupy it: The troops invaded the border province at dawn.^[5][14][2]
2. To crowd into a place in large numbers; to overrun or infest.^[14]
3. To intrude or encroach on something, such as privacy or rights.^[14][5][2]
4. Of a disease, feeling or the like, to enter and spread through, especially harmfully.^[14][2]
5. Of plants, to become established in an area where they are not native.^[14]
6. (obsolete) To attack or assault a person (1513–1753).^[5][2][11]

Word family

• invader
• invadable
• uninvaded
• reinvade

Related words

• in-
• invasion
• invasive
• evade
• pervade
• wade
• vade mecum

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins