Etymologically
Log in

requisite

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 1 November 2026 at 01:37. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈɹɛkwɪzɪt/[1]
  • US: /ˈɹɛkwɪzɪt/[1]

Etymology

The adjective is borrowed from Latin requīsītus (“sought after; deemed necessary”), the past participle of requīrō (“to seek, ask for, need”),[2][3][4][5][6][7] the source of require.[3][4][5] The noun is from requīsītum (“something required, need”), the neuter of requīsītus used as a noun;[2] the OED compares requisito (1550).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Required by circumstances or rules; necessary for a purpose: 1442, in a record of visitations of religious houses.[2][5] Etymonline dates it to the mid-15th century.[3]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept the sense "necessary" since the 15th century.[2] The noun, a necessary thing, often in the plural, is recorded from about 1487, in Skelton's translation of Diodorus Siculus,[2] though Etymonline dates it to about 1600.[3] A verb requisite was used rarely, to ask (before 1475) and to require as necessary (1545).[2] Johnson (1755) defined the adjective as "necessary; needful; required by the nature of things".[8] The related noun requisition is older, from before 1402,[5] and Weekley notes that its military sense dates from the late 18th century.[9]

Timeline

  • 1442 – adjective, required, necessary.[2][5]
  • before 1475 – verb, to ask (a person); obsolete.[2]
  • c. 1487 – noun, a necessary thing.[2]
  • 1545 – verb, to require as necessary.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Required by the circumstances or for a purpose; essential, indispensable: She lacked the requisite experience for the post.[10][7][2]

Noun

  1. Something that is required or necessary; an essential thing or quality: Patience is a requisite for teaching.[10][7][2]

Word family

  • requisitely
  • requisiteness
  • corequisite
  • nonrequisite
  • unrequisite

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster