operation

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˌɒp.ərˈeɪ.ʃən/, US /ˌɑː.pəˈreɪ.ʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English operacioun,^[2] borrowed from Old French operacion (“operation, working, proceedings”),^[3][4] from Latin operātiō (“a working, operation”),^[3][2] a noun of action from the past participle of operor (“I work, labor”),^[3][2] the source of operate, from opera “work, effort”, related to opus (“a work”).^[3] Etymonline takes it to Proto-Indo-European *op- (“to work, produce in abundance”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Action, performance, work: about 1386,^[5] the late 14th century,^[3] also the performance of some science or art.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Working, the exercise of force or influence, is from 1390,^[5] and the power to produce an effect from 1509.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it first as “agency; production of effects; influence”.^[6] The surgical sense, an act performed on a patient's body, usually with instruments, is first attested in the 1590s, 1597 in the OED.^[3][5] The military sense, a planned series of movements, is by 1749.^[3] A business transaction, especially a speculative one, is from 1832,^[5] and in operation, “working”, from 1818.^[5] In mathematics an operation is a process such as addition.^[7][8]

Timeline

• c. 1386 – action, performance.^[5]
• 1390 – working, agency.^[5]
• 1509 – power to produce effects.^[5]
• 1597 – a surgical operation.^[5][3]
• 1749 – a military operation.^[3]
• 1818 – in operation.^[5]
• 1832 – a business transaction.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act or process of working or functioning: the operation of a machine.
2. The state of being in effect: the law came into operation.
3. A procedure in which a surgeon cuts into the body to repair or remove something.
4. A planned military or police action.
5. A business or organization; an enterprise.
6. (mathematics) A process such as addition or multiplication.

Word family

• misoperation
• operationism
• preoperation
• suboperation
• reoperation
• binary operation
• unary operation

Related words

• opera
• operable
• operand
• operant
• operate
• operational
• operative
• operator
• opus
• cooperation
• office

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster