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misconception

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Etymology and origin of the English word misconception

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1658 T. Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica
Ultimate origins
English mis-Anglo-Norman concepcioun
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin concipio
Latin conceptio
English conception
English misconception
From the same root
English conceive ← concipio
English contraception ← conception

Pronunciation

  • US: /ˌmɪs.kənˈsɛp.ʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English mis- + conception,[2][3][4][5][6] after the verb misconceive.[2] The OED notes the earlier nouns misconceiving and misconcept,[2] and Etymonline notes that Middle English had misconceit in the same sense.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of misunderstanding something, or a mistaken view: 1658, in Sir T. Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica.[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1660s, and Dictionary.com to 1655–65.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The noun came after the verb misconceive, recorded from about 1395 in Chaucer,[2] and after misconceit, recorded from about 1435.[2] Johnson (1755) treated misconceit and misconception together as "false opinion; wrong notion".[7] The OED notes that the word now chiefly means a view that is false because it rests on faulty thinking, rather than the act of misunderstanding.[2]

Timeline

  • 1658 – the act of misconceiving; a mistaken view.[2][8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A mistaken idea or opinion, often one that is widely held: It is a common misconception that bats are blind.[9][4][5]
  2. The act or result of misconceiving something; misunderstanding.[4][5][2]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  8. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Misconception.” Etymologically, 1 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/misconception. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·