manipulation

Pronunciation

• IPA: /məˌnɪp.juˈleɪ.ʃən/ (UK); /məˌnɪp.jəˈleɪ.ʃən/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French manipulation,^[2][3][4] from manipule (“apothecary's handful”),^[4][2] from Latin manipulus (“handful, sheaf”),^[2][3] from manus (“hand”) and the root of pleō (“to fill”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A method of digging silver ore: 1727–41 in the OED, by 1730 in Etymonline, a sense now obsolete.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

In chemistry, the handling of apparatus in experiments is from 1796,^[5][3] and the skilful handling of objects in general by 1826.^[2][5] It was extended in 1828 to the managing of persons, especially to one's own advantage,^[2][5] the main modern sense.^[6] Manipulate is a 19th-century back-formation.^[3]

Timeline

• 1727–41 – digging ore (obsolete).^[5]
• 1796 – handling apparatus.^[5]
• 1826 – skilful handling.^[2][5]
• 1828 – managing people unfairly.^[2][5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Clever or dishonest control of people or situations, especially for one's own advantage.
2. The act of handling or operating something skilfully.

Word family

• automanipulation
• micromanipulation

Related words

• manipulate
• maniple
• manual
• manuscript

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin