recipient
This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 12:55. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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
- A person or thing that receives something.
- A person who receives blood, tissue or an organ from a donor.
- (linguistics) The indirect object of a verb.
Adjective
- Receiving or able to receive; receptive.
Word family
- corecipient
- nonrecipient
Related words
References
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ 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