participation

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /pɑːˌtɪs.ɪˈpeɪ.ʃən/, US /pɑːrˌtɪs.əˈpeɪ.ʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English participacioun, borrowed from Old French participacion and directly borrowed from Late Latin participātiō (“partaking”) (accusative participationem),^[2][3][4] a noun of action from the past participle stem of participāre (“to share in, partake of”),^[2][4] from particeps (“partaker, comrade”), from pars “part” (see part) and -cip-, a weak form of capere “to take”,^[2] from the PIE root Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grasp”).^[2] See participate.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action or fact of partaking, of having or forming part of something: about 1374 in the OED, the late 14th century in Etymonline.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

Sharing in common with others is from 1432–50,^[5] and taking part in an action or matter with others from 1667,^[5] the main modern sense.^[6][7] A participating bond or share is from 1931,^[5] and participation mystique, an imaginative identification with people and things, from 1927.^[5] Participational is from 1952.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – partaking.^[5]
• 1432–50 – sharing in common.^[5]
• 1667 – taking part in an action.^[5]
• 1927 – participation mystique.^[5]
• 1931 – a participating share.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act of taking part or sharing in an activity or event.
2. (finance) A share in profits, or a participating bond.

Word family

• participational
• nonparticipation
• preparticipation
• underparticipation

Related words

• participate
• participant
• participle
• part
• particle
• capture

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 f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins