procedure

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /prəˈsiː.dʒə/, /prəʊˈsiː.dʒə/, US /prəˈsiː.dʒɚ/, /proʊˈsiː.dʒɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French procédure (“manner of proceeding”),^[2][3][4] from Old French proceder “to proceed”.^[2][3] It is related to proceed and process.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The fact or manner of proceeding with an action: 1611 in the OED, in Cotgrave's Dictionary according to Barnhart, about 1577 in MWU.^[5][3][4]

Semantic evolution

A particular course of action is from before 1677 (the 1670s in Etymonline),^[5][2] and the steps taken in a legal action from 1676.^[5] The method of conducting business in Parliament is from 1839,^[5][2] and in computing, a set of instructions for a specific task, from 1946.^[5] Progress or continuance of an action is from 1644 and is obsolete.^[5] Procedural is from 1889.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1577 – first known use.^[4]
• 1611 – manner of proceeding.^[5][3]
• 1676 – legal procedure.^[5]
• 1839 – parliamentary procedure.^[5][2]
• 1946 – in computing.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An established or official way of doing something.
2. A series of steps followed in a regular order.
3. A medical or surgical operation.
4. The rules for conducting the business of a court, meeting or legislature.
5. (computing) A subroutine.

Word family

• procedural
• standard operating procedure

Related words

• proceed
• process
• procession

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