plagiarize

Etymology

It is formed from English plagiary + -ize,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} though Dictionary.com analyses it as plagiarism and the same suffix.^[7] Plagiary, a plagiarist, is from Latin plagiārius (“kidnapper, seducer; literary thief”),^[2][8][3] perhaps influenced by French plagiaire,^[4][2] and the Latin word comes from plagium (“kidnapping”),^[2][9][8] from plaga (“snare, hunting net”).^[3][9][8] Barnhart takes this to be apparently the same word as the Latin noun for a flat surface or region.^[4] Etymonline reports Watkins's derivation from a variant of Proto-Indo-European *plak- (“to be flat”),^[3] and de Vaan compares Ancient Greek πλάγιος (plágios, “athwart, sideways”) and Old High German flah (“flat”) on semantic grounds, but finds the formal link not evident.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

To take and use another person's thoughts or writings as one's own: 1660, in George Mackenzie's Aretina, in the OED's entry revised in 2006,^[2] and in Merriam-Webster.^[5] Etymonline and Barnhart give 1716,^[3][4] Dictionary.com gives 1710–20,^[7] and the Shorter Oxford the early 18th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The theft in this word began as the theft of people.^[2][9] Latin plagiārius was someone who abducted another's child or slave,^[2][3] and Martial used it metaphorically for a literary thief,^[9][2][3] which is the sense in which it reached English.^[9] English had plagiary as an adjective from 1598 and as a noun for a plagiarist from 1602, in Ben Jonson's Poetaster;^[2] the noun plagiary could still mean a kidnapper between 1613 and 1706.^[2] Plagiarism is recorded from 1621.^[4][3] The verb applied at first to writers, and was later extended to composers, artists and others.^[2] An intransitive use, to commit plagiarism, is recorded from the mid 19th century.^[6]

Timeline

• 1660 – transitive, to take another person's work as one's own.^[2][5] Etymonline and Barnhart date the word to 1716.^[3][4]
• mid 19th century – intransitive, to commit plagiarism.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To take another person's ideas or writing and pass them off as one's own: The columnist plagiarized whole paragraphs from a rival's book.^[11][5][2]
2. To copy from a person or work in this way, without giving credit.^[7][2]
3. To commit plagiarism, or literary theft.^[5][7][6]

Word family

• plagiarizer

Related words

• plagiarism
• plagiary
• plagiarist

Usage notes

The usual British spelling is plagiarise.^[11][7]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins