Etymologically
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scheme

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /skiːm/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin schēma (“shape, figure; figure of speech”),[2][3][4] from Ancient Greek σχῆμα (skhêma, “figure, appearance, form”),[2][4] related to skhein “to get” and ekhein “to have, hold”,[2] from Proto-Indo-European *segh- (“to hold”).[2] It is related to schema and schematic.[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In rhetoric, a figure of speech: 1553 in the OED,[6] the 1550s in Etymonline; the sense is obsolete.[2]

Semantic evolution

An early sense was a diagram of the positions of the planets, especially in astrology (1610),[6][2][7] which led to a diagram or outline in general (1649),[6][7] an outline or epitome (1647)[6] and a programme of action (1640s).[2] A plan to attain some end is by 1718, and unfavourable overtones of selfishness and deviousness began to creep in after that.[2] An orderly arrangement of parts is from 1736, as in colour scheme (by 1890).[2] The verb meant to reduce to a scheme in 1716,[2][6] to devise a scheme or plot in 1767,[2][6] and to form plans, contrive, by 1842.[2][6] In dialect it also meant to play truant or go on a spree.[6][8] In British use it also means an official plan or system, as a pension scheme.[9]

Timeline

  • 1553 – a figure of speech.[6]
  • 1610 – an astrological diagram.[6]
  • 1640s – a programme of action.[2]
  • 1716 – verb, to reduce to a scheme.[2][6]
  • 1718 – a plan to attain an end.[2]
  • 1767 – verb, to plot.[2][6]
  • 1842 – verb, to contrive, intransitive.[2][6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A systematic plan or programme of action.
  2. A secret or devious plan; a plot.
  3. An orderly arrangement of related parts: a colour scheme.
  4. A diagram or outline.

Verb

  1. To make secret plans; to plot.
  2. To plan or contrive.

Word family

  • schemer
  • schemeless
  • schema
  • schematic

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 j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins