Etymologically
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participate

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 02:14. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /pɑːˈtɪs.ɪ.peɪt/, /pɑːˈtɪs.ə.peɪt/, US /pɑːrˈtɪs.ə.peɪt/, /pɚˈtɪs.ə.peɪt/[1]

Etymology

It is probably a back-formation from participation,[2][3] or else from Latin participātus, the past participle of participāre (“to share, take part”),[3][4][5] from particeps (“partaking, sharing”), from pars (“part”) and capere (“to take”).[3][4][6] It is related to part, participle and particle.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To take or have a part or share in: 1531, in Elyot's The Boke Named the Governour.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

To share something with others or to give a share of it was used from about 1540,[7] and to make someone a sharer from the late 15th century; both are obsolete.[7][8] Having features in common with others is by the 1570s.[3] Participation is much older, from about 1380 in Chaucer's Boethius, and participant is from 1562 as a noun.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1380 – participation.[2]
  • 1531 – to share in.[7][2]
  • c. 1540 – to share with others.[7]
  • 1570s – to have features in common.[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To take part or be involved in an activity.
  2. To share in something.

Word family

  • participative
  • participator
  • participatingly
  • participatively
  • participance
  • nonparticipating
  • unparticipating

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 d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press