recipient

Pronunciation

• IPA: /rɪˈsɪp.i.ənt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French récipient and directly Latin recipiēns (“receiving”), the present participle of recipiō (“to receive, hold, contain”) (see receive),^[2][3][4][5] from re- and capiō (“to take”).^[4] Hoad also allows Italian recipiente.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

1558: a person or thing that receives in Barnhart,^[2] a vessel for receiving a liquid in chemistry in the OED,^[6] the 1550s in Etymonline.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The adjective, receiving or receptive, is from 1610.^[2][6][3] The general sense, one who receives, is from 1615 in the OED.^[6] The receiver of an air pump was a recipient from 1672, and in linguistics the indirect object of a verb from 1937.^[6] Recipiency is from 1822 and recipience from 1882.^[3]

Timeline

• 1558 – a recipient.^[2][6]
• 1610 – recipient (adjective).^[2][6]
• 1615 – one who receives.^[6]
• 1937 – recipient (linguistics).^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person or thing that receives something.
2. A person who receives blood, tissue or an organ from a donor.
3. (linguistics) The indirect object of a verb.

Adjective

1. Receiving or able to receive; receptive.

Word family

• corecipient
• nonrecipient

Related words

• receive
• receipt
• reception
• capable

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press