manipulate

Etymology

It is a back-formation from manipulation,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} perhaps after French manipuler,^[7] which was itself formed in French from its noun; the OED thinks both are independent of Italian manipolare and of the rare Medieval Latin manipulō (“to lead by the hand”).^[2] The noun manipulation (1728) is borrowed from French manipulation,^[2][4] from Spanish manipulación, used of alchemy in 1619,^[2][3] from Latin manipulus (“handful, sheaf”),^[2][3][8] a compound of manus (“hand”) and the root of pleō (“to fill”).^[4][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Intransitive, in chemistry, to handle apparatus in experiments: 1827, in Michael Faraday's Chemical Manipulation.^[2][4][9]

Semantic evolution

The noun manipulation named a method of digging ore (1727–41) and the handling of chemical apparatus (1796) before the skilful handling of any object (1826), and the verb followed it.^[4] From 1834, in Carlyle's Sartor Resartus, manipulate meant to handle anything with skill;^[2][10] the OED dates mental handling of ideas from 1856,^[2] and the sense "to manage or influence in an underhand way" from 1862, in Carlyle's history of Frederick the Great,^[2] which Barnhart and Etymonline date to 1864.^[4][9] Barnhart finds manipulation for unfair changes to accounts already in 1828.^[4] The financial sense, to raise or lower prices by illicit dealing, dates from 1870,^[2][9] the sexual sense from 1884,^[2] and therapy by moving the joints with the hands from 1899.^[2] Etymonline notes its use as a euphemism for masturbation by 1949.^[9] In computing, to operate on data, it dates from 1962.^[2]

Timeline

• 1827 – to handle apparatus in chemical experiments.^[2][4]
• 1834 – to handle with skill.^[2][10]
• 1856 – to handle mentally or logically.^[2]
• 1862 – to manage or influence by devious means.^[2]
• 1870 – to affect market prices artificially.^[2][9]
• 1884 – to stimulate sexually by hand.^[2]
• 1899 – in medicine, to treat by moving parts of the body.^[2]
• 1962 – in computing, to operate on data.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To handle, operate or work something skilfully with the hands or with a tool or machine: He manipulated the controls of the crane with ease.^[8][10][2]
2. To control or influence a person or situation cleverly, often unfairly or deviously.^[8][2]
3. To change or falsify figures, accounts or other records for one's own advantage.^[8][4]
4. (finance) To make the price of stocks, a currency or a commodity rise or fall by improper means.^[2][9]
5. To examine or treat a joint or other part of the body by hand, as in physiotherapy, osteopathy or chiropractic.^[8][2]
6. (computing) To process or edit data.^[2]
7. To stimulate sexually with the hand.^[2][7]

Word family

• manipulability
• manipulatable
• manipulative
• manipulatively
• manipulativeness
• manipulator
• manipulation
• manipulatory

Related words

• maniple
• manual
• manage

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 n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster