precept

Etymology

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman precept, also precep, and Middle French precept,^[2][3] and directly borrowed from Latin praeceptum (“piece of advice, rule, order”).^[2][4][5] The Latin noun is the neuter past participle of praecipiō (“to take beforehand; to instruct, order”),^[2][4][6][7] from prae- (“before”) and capiō (“to take”),^[2][4][6] from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grasp”).^[4][6] Etymonline cites the Old French forms percept and percet from the 12th century,^[4] and Dictionary.com, Hoad and the Shorter Oxford derive the word from Latin alone.^[8][7][9] Anglo-Norman records the noun from 1113–19.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A general command or rule for conduct: before 1325, in the Statutes of the Realm.^[2] Barnhart's first record is in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, about 1375,^[5] and Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The Latin noun already covered advice, teaching, rules and orders,^[2] and the French word brought the same range: a command in the 12th century, a maxim in the mid 13th, and in Anglo-Norman a legal mandate or warrant in the 14th.^[2] In English the general sense of a rule, especially a moral rule or divine command, has lasted from the first record.^[2][9] A narrower use for one specific order is recorded from the Wycliffite Bible of about 1384 and died out by 1625.^[2] Legal use followed, largely in Scottish records: a written warrant from 1397, a writ requiring a legal process from 1427, a document granting possession from 1446 and a kind of letter of credit from 1473.^[2][10] From 1552, in Recorde's Ground of Artes, a precept could also be a rule for a practical subject or technical operation.^[2][9] Johnson (1755) gave the word as a rule given with authority, a mandate or commandment.^[11] Two later administrative uses are British: an order for arranging an election, from 1684, and a demand by one local authority on another for tax, from 1877.^[2] The rare verb, first laying down a rule, has since 1913 also meant to issue such a demand.^[2][9]

Timeline

• before 1325 – a general command or rule of conduct.^[2]
• c. 1384 – a specific order to do something (obsolete by 1625), in the Wycliffite Bible.^[2]
• 1397 – a written warrant (obsolete by 1762), in Scottish records.^[2]
• 1427 – a written order from a monarch, court or judge requiring a legal process.^[2]
• before 1475 – verb, to lay down as a rule (obsolete by 1701).^[2]
• 1552 – a rule for a practical subject or technical operation.^[2]
• 1627 – verb, to instruct by precepts.^[2]
• 1684 – an order to make arrangements for an election.^[2]
• 1877 – a demand by one local authority on another for tax.^[2]
• 1913 – verb, of a local authority, to issue a precept.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rule or principle for action, especially one governing moral conduct; a maxim or commandment.^[6][12][13]
2. A working rule or direction for an art, a science or a technical operation.^[12][13][2]
3. (law) A writ, warrant or other written order issued by an authority.^[6][12]
4. (law) A written order to a sheriff or returning officer to arrange an election or to assemble a jury.^[12][2]
5. In Britain, an order from one local authority to another stating the rate of tax to be collected on its behalf.^[12][2]
6. (obsolete, 1384–1625) An order to do one particular thing.^[2][9]

Verb

1. In Britain, of a local authority, to issue a precept, or to demand funds by one.^[2][9]
2. In North America, to give practical clinical training.^[2]
3. (obsolete, 1475–1701) To lay something down as a rule or duty.^[2][9]

Word family

• preceptive

Related words

• preceptor
• captive
• capture
• percept
• preceptory

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 o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
11. ^ 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 Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster