Etymologically
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reduction

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /rɪˈdʌk.ʃən/, /rəˈdʌk.ʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English reduccioun, borrowed from Middle French réduction and directly from Latin reductiō (“a leading back, restoration”),[2][3][4] a noun of action from the past participle of redūcere (“to bring back, restore”).[2][5] See reduce.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The conquest or subjugation of a place or people: 1429 in the HTOED, the early 15th century in Etymonline,[6][2] which also has “restoring to a former state”, a sense now obsolete.[2] NODE says the first sense was the action of bringing back.[5]

Semantic evolution

Its sense development broadly followed that of reduce.[5] In mathematics, expressing a quantity in another unit is from 1543, and simplifying a fraction from 1594.[6] In surgery, putting a dislocated bone back in place is from 1612.[7][4] The chemical sense, conversion into a simpler form, is from the 1660s,[2][6] and the reverse of oxidation from 1796.[6] A lessening in amount is from the 1670s in Etymonline and 1695 in the HTOED.[2][6] A copy made on a smaller scale is from 1728,[6] and a discount on a price from 1820.[6]

Timeline

  • 1429 – conquest.[6]
  • 1543 – in mathematics.[6]
  • 1612 – in surgery.[7]
  • 1660s – in chemistry.[2]
  • 1670s – a lessening.[2]
  • 1820 – a discount.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The act of making something smaller in size, amount or degree.
  2. The amount by which something is made smaller: a price reduction.
  3. A smaller copy of a picture or document.
  4. (chemistry) A reaction in which a substance gains electrons or loses oxygen; the opposite of oxidation.
  5. (medicine) The putting back of a broken or dislocated bone into place.

Word family

  • reductional
  • reductionism
  • oxidation-reduction
  • photoreduction
  • nonreduction
  • overreduction
  • electroreduction

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 g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press