occupant

Etymology

It is partly borrowed from Middle French occupant (“one who occupies”),^[2][3][4][5] the present participle of occuper used as a noun,^[2][4] and partly borrowed from Latin occupāns (“one who occupies”),^[2][6][7] the present participle of occupō (“to take possession of, seize”),^[2][6][5] the source of occupy.^[6][3] The French noun is recorded from 1478–80 in the phrase premier occupant, with which the OED compares the English phrase “first occupant”.^[2] Barnhart thinks the word may also have been borrowed directly from Latin, which would explain why Bacon used occupant and occupancy at the same time.^[3] The earlier English noun in this sense was occupier, from the early 14th century.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who occupies or is in a place, in the phrase “first occupant”: 1578, in H. Wotton's translation of Yver's Courtlie Controuersie.^[2] Merriam-Webster also dates the word to 1578,^[8] while Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1596 and the 1590s, in the legal sense "one who takes possession of something that has no owner", in Bacon's Elements of the Common Laws.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense, a person who gains title to something without an owner by taking possession of it, is recorded from 1600 in the OED,^[2] and the Oxford Dictionary of English names it as the word's first use.^[9] Johnson (1755) defined the word only as one who takes possession of anything, quoting Bacon.^[10] Barnhart dates the meaning "occupier, resident" to 1622.^[3] In 1598 Marston used it for a prostitute, after an obscene sense of occupy, a use the OED marks obsolete.^[2]

Timeline

• 1578 – a person who occupies or is in a place, in the phrase “first occupant”.^[2][8]
• 1596 – one who takes possession of something having no owner, in Bacon.^[3]
• 1598 – a prostitute (obsolete).^[2]
• 1600 – in law, one who establishes a title by taking possession.^[2]
• 1622 – an occupier or resident.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who lives in or is in a place, such as a house, room or vehicle: The fire forced the occupants of the flat into the street.^[11][8][2]
2. A person or thing holding a position or place: the current occupant of the office.^[11][2]
3. (law) A person who is in possession of property, especially as a tenant.^[11][8]
4. (law) A person who gains title to something that had no owner by being the first to take possession of it.^[11][8][2]

Word family

• nonoccupant
• occupancy
• preoccupant

Related words

• occupy
• occupation
• occupier

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins