prison

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈprɪz.ᵊn/^[1]

Etymology

It is late inherited from Old English prisun, borrowed from Old French prisun, prison “captivity; a prison; a prisoner”,^[2][3] altered under the influence of pris “taken” from earlier preson,^[2][3] from Latin prēnsiō (“a seizing, arrest”), contracted from prehēnsiō,^[2][3] from prehendere (“to seize, take”),^[2][3] from prae- (“before”) and -hendere, from Proto-Indo-European *ghend- (“to seize, take”).^[2] The word comes from the act of arrest, not the place.^[4][5] The verb is from the noun.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Confinement, captivity: before 1112 in Barnhart^[3] and before 1123 in the OED.^[7] A place of confinement is from probably before 1200.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In early use it often meant the condition of captivity;^[2] the main modern sense, a public building for confining criminals and others held by law, grew out of it.^[2][7] A prison was also a prisoner, from 1195,^[7] until prisoner (1350–75) replaced it after the 15th century.^[3] The verb, “to imprison”, is from 1292.^[7] Figurative uses, of anything that confines, are from before 1225.^[7] Prison-without-bars, an open prison, is from 1948.^[7]

Timeline

• before 1112 – confinement.^[3]
• 1195 – a prisoner.^[7]
• before 1200 – a place of confinement.^[3]
• before 1225 – figurative uses.^[7]
• 1292 – verb, to imprison.^[7]
• 1350–75 – prisoner.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A building where people convicted or accused of crimes are kept; a jail.
2. A place or condition of confinement.
3. The state of being imprisoned; captivity.

Verb

1. (literary) To imprison.

Word family

• prisonlike
• postprison
• unprison
• imprison
• prisoner
• prison fever
• prison psychosis
• prison camp

Related words

• prehensile
• apprehend
• comprehend
• prize
• reprisal

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press