lancet

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English launcet, also lancette,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French lancette (“small lance”),^[5][6][3][7] a diminutive of lance (“lance”) with -ette.^[5][7][8] The Old French word is recorded from the 12th century,^[6] and the Anglo-Norman lancet from 1212, as a small lance or dart, a shoot and a lancet for bloodletting.^[9] It corresponds to Italian lancetta.^[5] The noun lance is from the same French word, which comes from Latin lancea (“light spear”), a word that Varro said was of Spanish origin, possibly Celtiberian.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Barnhart dates the form launcet to 1392, and lancet to probably before 1425.^[3][10] The Middle English Dictionary's earliest quotation, from the Master of Game of about 1410, is of a surgical instrument for widening wounds;^[2] the OED's first record (about 1420) is of a small lance or dart.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word meant both a small lance and a small pointed surgical knife, used for letting blood and opening abscesses;^[5][7][2][6] the weapon sense was obsolete by the 18th century.^[7][5] Johnson (1755) knew only the "chirurgical instrument".^[11] The related verb lance had the surgical sense "to cut open" from the late 15th century.^[6] From the shape of the blade, a tall narrow window with a sharply pointed arch was called a lancet window by 1781,^[6][12] and lancet alone was used for such an arch or window from 1848.^[5] Etymonline notes that such windows mark English architecture of the 13th century.^[6]

Timeline

• 1392 – launcet, a small surgical knife.^[3]
• c. 1410 – a surgical instrument for opening abscesses and letting blood.^[2] The OED's first record of this sense is from Caxton's Game and Playe of the Chesse (1474).^[5]
• c. 1420 – a small lance or dart (obsolete).^[5]
• 1753 – in whaling, a lance (obsolete).^[5]
• 1781 – lancet window, a narrow window with a pointed arch.^[6] Lancet alone, for the arch or window, is recorded from 1848.^[5]
• 1826 – in entomology, a lancet-shaped part of an insect.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small pointed surgical knife, usually with two edges, used to make small incisions or punctures, as in a vein or a boil.^{[13][14][15][5]}
2. A lancet arch or lancet window.^{[13][14][15][5]}
3. (obsolete) A small lance or dart.^[5][7][14]

Word family

• lancet arch

Related words

• lance
• launch

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
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. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
14. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
15. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins