occupational

Etymology

It is formed from English occupation + -al.^[2][3][4][5] The noun comes from Anglo-Norman occupacion and Old French occupation, from Latin occupātiō (“a seizing, taking possession; business, employment”), from occupō (“to seize, take possession of”), the source of occupy.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to an occupation, in the sense of a job or calling: 1850, in Nathaniel Hawthorne's journal (14 May).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The adjective was formed from occupation in its sense of a person's employment or trade, a sense the noun has had since the late 14th century.^[2][3] It has formed set phrases: occupational therapy is attested by 1918 and occupational risk by 1951,^[3] and the Shorter Oxford adds occupational disease and occupational hazard, both also used jokingly for a failing or a usual consequence of an activity.^[4] Merriam-Webster's examples include occupational troops, and it also lists a noun occupational, an occupation stamp.^[6]

Timeline

• 1850 – of or relating to an occupation or trade.^[2][3]
• 1918 – occupational therapy.^[3]
• 1951 – occupational risk.^[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Of, relating to or caused by a person's job or occupation: an occupational pension, occupational disease.
2. occupational hazard: a risk that comes with a particular job; jokingly, a usual result of an activity.
3. occupational therapy: activity prescribed to help recovery from illness, injury or disability.
4. Of or relating to the military occupation of a territory: occupational troops.

Word family

• occupationally
• nonoccupational
• occupational hazard
• occupational medicine
• occupational disease
• occupational therapy

Related words

• occupation
• occupy

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster