procurement

Etymology

It is formed from English procure + -ment,^[2][3] partly modelled on Anglo-Norman procurement (“management, administration; persuasion”), a noun also used in Middle French,^[2] and partly on Medieval Latin procuramentum.^[2][4] Merriam-Webster and Etymonline derive it instead through French, from Old French procurer (“to care for; to bring about; to obtain”) with the suffix -ment.^[3][4] The verb procure goes back to Latin prōcūrō (“to take care of, manage”), formed from prō- (“for”) and cūrō (“to care for”), from cūra (“care”).^[5][4] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from 1293, meaning persuasion, instigation and arrangement, and also improper persuasion or inducement.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The causing or arranging of something, especially through another person; instigation: before 1325, in the Statutes of the Realm.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to about 1300 in the sense "use of improper influence".^[4]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, bringing something about through an agent, is still in use;^[2] Etymonline dates the meaning "process of bringing something about" to about 1400.^[4] From 1569, in Arthur Golding's translation of Hemmingsen, the word also meant the action of obtaining something, an acquisition,^[2] and in the early 17th century it could name an agent or means (1601–20), a use now obsolete.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as "the act of procuring", quoting Dryden's Aurengzebe: "By her procurement".^[7] The modern sense, the obtaining of equipment and supplies, began as a military term: the OED's first example is from the Washington Post of 1918, and the word then passed into business use for buying goods and services on the best terms.^[2] Etymonline dates the military meaning only to 1949, in American English.^[4]

Timeline

• before 1325 – the causing or bringing about of something through an agent; instigation.^[2]
• 1569 – the action of obtaining something.^[2]
• 1601 – an agent or means (obsolete by 1620).^[2]
• 1755 – Johnson defines it as the act of procuring.^[7]
• 1918 – military: the obtaining of equipment and supplies.^[2]
• 1949 – Etymonline's date for the military sense, in American English.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of obtaining or acquiring something: the procurement of a bank loan.^[8][3][2]
2. (commerce) The purchasing of goods, equipment or services, especially by a government or large organization; also used before another noun, as in procurement officer: The ministry reformed its procurement of military aircraft.^[8][2]
3. The act of causing or bringing something about, especially through someone else; instigation.^[2][7]

Word family

• nonprocurement

Related words

• procure
• procurator
• cure

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins