Etymologically
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monopoly

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /məˈnɒpəli/, /məˈnɑpəli/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin monopōlium (“exclusive right of sale”),[2][3][4] from Ancient Greek μονοπώλιον (monopṓlion, “right of exclusive sale”) (compare μονοπωλία (monopōlía)),[2][5][6] from μόνος (mónos, “alone, single”) and πωλέω (pōléō, “to sell”),[7][5][4] from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to sell”).[7][4][5] The form monopole, from French, was common in the 16th century.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Exclusive possession or control of the trade in a commodity: 1534, in Sir Thomas More.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Tudor and Stuart England a monopoly was often a privilege granted by the Crown to sell a commodity or trade with a region (from 1578),[2][8] and the word was also used for the crime of engrossing in the 17th century.[2] The extended sense, exclusive possession of anything, is from 1610,[2][8] with Etymonline dating it by the 1640s;[7] the commodity under monopoly is from 1713,[2] and a company that holds one from 1871.[2][8] The board game Monopoly is a proprietary name from 1934.[2][6]

Timeline

  • 1534 – exclusive control of a trade.[2][3]
  • 1578 – a privilege granted by the state.[2]
  • 1601 – monopolist.[3]
  • 1610 – exclusive possession of anything.[2][8]
  • 1611 – monopolize.[3]
  • 1871 – a company holding a monopoly.[2]
  • 1934 – the board game.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Exclusive control of the supply of a commodity or service in a market, allowing control of prices.
  2. A company or group that has such control, or a commodity controlled in this way.
  3. Exclusive possession or control of anything: no one has a monopoly on wisdom.
  4. A right granted by a government to be the only seller of something.

Word family

  • monopolism
  • monopolist
  • monopolistic
  • monopolistically
  • monopoloid
  • antimonopoly
  • premonopoly
  • promonopoly
  • monopole
  • oligopoly
  • bibliopole

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)