inventor

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin inventor (“contriver, author, discoverer, founder”),^[2][3][4][5] an agent noun from the past participle stem of inveniō (“to come upon, find; devise”),^[3][2][6] from in- (“in, on”) and veniō (“to come”),^[3] which Etymonline traces to Proto-Indo-European *gwa- (“to go, come”).^[3] The Latin word is the source of inventeur, recorded from 1454, inventor and inventore.^[3][2] The less common spelling inventer was altered under the influence of the English suffix -er.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who finds out, a discoverer: 1509, in Alexander Barclay's Shyp of Folys;^[2] Etymonline dates it to about 1500.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, a discoverer, whether by chance or by research, was obsolete by the early 18th century.^[2][3][6] From 1548 the word meant a contriver or founder, and later, usually, someone who makes up something false.^[2] The modern sense, one who devises a new instrument, art or process, is recorded from 1555, in Richard Eden's translation of Peter Martyr.^[2][3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "a finder out of something new", quoting Bacon on the inventors of ships and gunpowder, and also as "a forger".^[7]

Timeline

• 1509–1726 – a discoverer (now obsolete).^[2]
• 1548 – a contriver or designer; later, a fabricator of falsehoods.^[2]
• 1555 – one who devises a new instrument, art or method.^[2][3]
• 1755 – Johnson defines it as "a finder out of something new".^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who creates a new device, machine or process, especially as an occupation: She is the inventor of a cheaper water filter.^[8][6][2]
2. A person who devises or makes up something, especially something fictitious or false.^[2][6]
3. (obsolete) A discoverer, one who finds something out.^[2][6]

Word family

• coinventor

Related words

• invent
• invention

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins