Etymologically
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practical

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈpræk.tɪ.kəl/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Middle English practic “dealing with practical matters” or the noun practic “method, practice, use” and the suffix -al,[2][3][4] partly from Medieval Latin practicalis.[2][3] Practic is from Old French practique and Late Latin prācticus,[2][3] from Ancient Greek πρακτικός (praktikós, “fit for action, business-like”),[2][3] from prássein, práttein “to do, act”,[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to lead, pass over”).[2] It is related to practice, pragmatic and praxis.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to practice or use, applied: before 1425 in Barnhart, in a translation of Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie, and the early 15th century in Etymonline.[3][2] The OED has it from 1617, and the NODE dates it to the late 16th century.[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The form practical gradually replaced the older adjective practic, much as classical stands beside classic.[3] Actually engaged in an occupation is from 1604,[5] and of persons whose knowledge comes from practice rather than theory from the 1660s.[2][5] Being such in practice, virtual, as in a practical certainty, is from 1642.[5] A practical joke, a jest carried into action, is from 1771.[2] The noun, a lesson or examination devoted to practice, is by 1934, and 1925 in MWU.[2][6]

Timeline

  • c. 1425 – applied, of practice.[3]
  • 1604 – actually practising.[5]
  • 1642 – virtual, in effect.[5]
  • 1660s – of practical people.[2]
  • 1771 – practical joke.[2]
  • 1934 – noun, a practical lesson.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Relating to real situations and actions rather than theory.
  2. Likely to work or be useful; sensible.
  3. Good at dealing with problems and making or doing things.
  4. Being so in effect, though not in name; virtual.

Noun

  1. (British) A lesson or examination in which students do things rather than write.

Word family

  • practicality
  • practicalness
  • practically
  • nonpractical
  • practicalism
  • semipractical
  • ultrapractical
  • unpractical
  • practicable
  • practice
  • practise
  • practitioner
  • pragmatic
  • praxis

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 g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster