maturation

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French maturation,^[2][3][4][5] and partly borrowed from Medieval Latin mātūrātiō (“ripening, bringing to completion in good time”),^{[2][3][4][6][7]} from classical Latin mātūrātiō (“a hastening”),^[2][8] a noun of action from mātūrō (“to ripen; to hasten”),^[2][8][6] the source of mature.^[8][6] In French the word is recorded from about 1300 for ripening, and in the medical sense from the 14th century; in British Latin it occurs from the end of the 12th century.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The coming to a head of an abscess, the formation of pus: about 1425, in a translation of Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie, which speaks of waiting for perfect maturacioun before opening a swelling.^[2][7][8]

Semantic evolution

The word entered English as a surgeon's term for the ripening of a boil, and also for treatment to bring it to a head.^[7][2] In the 17th century it widened to ripening in general: of chemical preparations (1605), of a disease (1612), of a person or a faculty (1616), of plants and fruit (1621), and of an animal or an organ (1656).^[2][8] It was also used in alchemy for the conversion of base metal into gold,^[4][3] and of a supposed natural development of substances by heat and motion (1652 to 1753).^[2][4] Johnson (1755) defined it as the act of ripening or the state of growing ripe, quoting Bacon on fruit and grain.^[9] Later uses are scientific: in psychology, growth which together with learning leads to maturity; in cell biology (1884) the formation of ova and sperm; in virology (1951) and biochemistry (1967) the last stages in making a virus or a molecule.^[2][3]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – the formation of pus in an abscess.^[2][7]
• 1605 – the process of becoming ready for use.^[2]
• 1612 – the coming to a head of a disease.^[2]
• 1616 – the development of a person or faculty.^[2][8]
• 1621 – the ripening of a plant or fruit.^[2][8]
• 1751 – the development of a feeling or plan.^[2]
• 1884 – the formation of egg or sperm cells by meiosis.^[2]
• 1951 – the assembly of a complete virus particle.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The process of becoming mature or fully developed, in body or mind: Her writing shows a steady maturation.^[3][10][2]
2. The process of ripening, as of fruit, wine or cheese.^[10][2][4]
3. (biology) The development of ova and sperm cells from precursor cells through meiosis.^[10][2]
4. (archaic) The formation of pus, as in a boil; suppuration.^[3][10][2]
5. (obsolete) In alchemy, the conversion of a base metal into gold.^[3][4]

Word family

• maturational

Related words

• mature
• maturate
• maturity
• premature

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ 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)
8. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins