project

Pronunciation

• IPA: noun UK /ˈprɒdʒ.ekt/, US /ˈprɑː.dʒekt/; verb /prəˈdʒekt/^[1]

Etymology

The noun is inherited from Middle English projecte (“plan, draft, scheme”),^[2][3][4] borrowed from Medieval Latin prōiectum (“something thrown forth; a projecting roof”),^[2][3][5] the noun use of the neuter of Latin prōiectus, past participle of prōicere (“to stretch out, throw forth”),^[2][3][6] formed from prō- (“forward”) and iacere (“to throw”).^[2][3][6] Etymonline traces iacere to Proto-Indo-European *ye- (“to throw, impel”).^[3] Merriam-Webster's Unabridged sees influence from Middle French pourjet (“plan”).^[7] The verb is from the Latin participle prōiectus.^[4][8][5] It is related to jet, eject, inject, object and subject.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A plan, draft or table of something: probably before 1400,^[2] or about 1400.^[3][11]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century a project was also a mental conception or notion.^[8][11] A scheme or proposal for execution, the main modern sense, is from 1601.^[11][8] In education, a task set to students to study a topic is from 1916,^[11][2] and in North America a block of government-subsidized housing is a project from 1932.^[11][3] The verb meant “to plan, scheme” in the late 15th century, in Caxton,^[3][11] with the notion of casting forward in the mind,^[3] and “to throw forward” from the 16th century.^[8] “To jut out” is from the late 17th century,^[4] and “to cause an image to appear on a surface” and “to attribute one's own feelings to others” are later uses.^[12] Projection is from the 16th century, first for representing a sphere on a flat surface.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – a plan, draft.^[3][11]
• late 15th century – verb, to plan (Caxton).^[3]
• 16th century – verb, to throw forward, and projection.^[8]
• 1601 – a scheme for execution.^[11]
• late 17th century – verb, to jut out.^[4]
• 1916 – a school project.^[11]
• 1932 – a housing project.^[11]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A plan or proposal; a scheme.
2. An undertaking needing concerted effort.
3. An extended task done by a student or group of students.
4. (US) A housing project.

Verb

1. To plan or intend; to estimate a future amount.
2. To thrust out; to protrude or jut.
3. To throw forward or send out into space.
4. To cause an image to appear on a surface.
5. To make one's voice carry.
6. To attribute one's own feelings to someone else.

Word family

• projectable
• projectingly
• counterproject
• megaproject
• reproject
• subproject
• projective
• housing project

Related words

• projection
• projectile
• projector
• jet
• eject
• inject
• object
• subject
• reject

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ 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
12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin