Etymologically
Log in

penetrate

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 07:00. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /ˈpɛnɪtɹeɪt/, /ˈpɛnətɹeɪt/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin penetrātus, the past participle of penetrō (“to put or get into, enter”),[2][3][4][5] from penitus (“inner, inmost, to the inmost recesses”),[5][6][7][8] formed after intrō (“to enter”) beside intus (“within”).[5][9] Penitus is related to penes (“within, in the power of”),[6][7][10] penus (“innermost part of a temple; store of food”) and the Penātēs (“household gods”);[3][2][4][10] Etymonline derives them all from penus "food, provisions", from Proto-Indo-European *penos (“food”), comparing Lithuanian penėti (“to feed”).[3] French has the same verb, French pénétrer, from 1314.[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To get into or through, to pierce, both transitive and intransitive: 1530, in Palsgrave's Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse.[5][2]

Semantic evolution

Figurative senses came quickly: to see into something with the mind from 1540,[5] and to touch the heart or feelings from Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona,[5] Etymonline dating both figurative senses to the 1580s.[3] In 1589 Puttenham counted penetrate and penetrable among the newly borrowed Latin words that English could not do without, whatever fault was found with inkhorn terms.[5] The sense "to permeate" dates from 1652.[5] Modern specialized uses include a product entering a market (1873), a team getting past a defence (1910), spies infiltrating an organization (1922) and the sexual sense (1953).[5] Johnson (1755) gave the senses "to pierce", "to affect the mind" and "to reach the meaning".[11]

Timeline

  • 1530 – to get into or through, to pierce.[5][2]
  • 1540 – to gain insight into something.[5]
  • 1589 – Puttenham defends penetrate as a necessary Latin borrowing.[5]
  • before 1616 – to affect deeply, in Shakespeare.[5]
  • 1652 – to permeate.[5]
  • 1873 – to enter a market.[5]
  • 1922 – to infiltrate an organization.[5]
  • 1953 – sexual sense.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To pass into or through something, especially by force; to pierce: The nail penetrated the tyre.[4][12][5]
  2. To spread through a substance; to permeate.[12][5]
  3. To see through something: Our headlights could not penetrate the mist.[12][4]
  4. To understand something difficult; to discern its meaning.[12][5]
  5. (intransitive) To be understood: After a moment the joke penetrated.[12]
  6. To affect someone deeply.[5][11]
  7. To enter and win a share of a market.[5]
  8. To infiltrate an organization, especially a hostile one, to gain information.[5]
  9. To insert the penis into the vagina or anus of.[12][5]

Word family

  • penetrator
  • interpenetrate
  • penetrance
  • unpenetrated
  • penetration
  • penetrable
  • impenetrable
  • penetralia
  • penates
  • penetrant

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins