occupancy

Etymology

It is formed from English occupant + -ancy.^[2][3][4][5] occupant is partly from Middle French occupant and partly occupāns, the present participle of occupō (“to take possession of”), the source of occupy.^[2][4] Johnson derived occupancy directly from the Latin participle.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The condition of being an occupant: in the 1590s, according to Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford.^[4][3] The OED's first quotation, from 1629, is a legal one, on taking possession of land.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In early use the word was mainly legal: the taking of possession of land, or of something without an owner, which could give title to it.^[2][3][5] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as the act of taking possession.^[6] In the 19th century it was briefly used for being occupied or busy (1826–43),^[2] and since 1833 it has meant the fact of taking up space.^[2][4] In the 20th century it acquired statistical senses: the proportion of time a telephone circuit is in use (1933), and the proportion of rooms, beds or other accommodation that is occupied (1935).^[2] Etymonline dates the second of these to 1974.^[4]

Timeline

• 1590s – the condition of being an occupant.^[4][3]
• 1629 – the act of taking possession, especially of land, in law.^[2][5]
• 1826 – the state of being busy (obsolete by 1843).^[2]
• 1833 – the fact of taking up space.^[2][4]
• 1864 – a place that is occupied.^[2]
• 1933 – in telephony, the share of time a circuit handles calls.^[2]
• 1935 – the share of accommodation that is occupied.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of occupying a place, or the condition of being an occupant, especially a tenant: The new owners took up occupancy in May.^[7][5][2]
2. The period during which a place is occupied.^[7]
3. (law) The taking of possession of something that has no owner, especially land, so as to acquire title to it.^[7][5][2]
4. (law) The holding and use of property, as under a lease, without a claim to ownership.^[7][5]
5. The proportion of rooms, seats or other accommodation that is occupied: hotel occupancy fell during the winter.^[2][3]

Word family

• preoccupancy
• unoccupancy

Related words

• occupant
• occupy
• occupation

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