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selection

Etymology and origin of the English word selection

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1623
Borrowed from
Latin selectio
Ultimate origin
Latin (seligere)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sɪˈlek.ʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sēlēctiō (“a choosing out, choice”) (accusative sēlēctiōnem),[2][3][4] a noun of action from sēlēctus, the past participle of sēligere (“to choose out, single out; to separate, cull”),[2][4] It is related to select.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of selecting, the fact of being chosen: about 1623 in Merriam-Webster,[5] the 1620s in Etymonline,[2] 1646–58 in the OED.[6]

Semantic evolution

A thing selected, a number of things chosen, a particular choice, is from 1805.[2][6] In biology it was used by 1837 of the systematic breeding of plants and animals by humans, and Darwin extended it in 1857, in natural selection, to the impersonal working of nature and time;[2][6] French sélection is a 19th-century borrowing from English.[2] In Australia a selection was land taken up under the free-selection laws, from 1866.[6][7] The horse picked by a racing tipster is a selection from 1901.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 1623 – the act of choosing.[5]
  • 1805 – a thing chosen.[2][6]
  • 1837 – in breeding.[2][6]
  • 1857 – natural selection.[2]
  • 1866 – Australian free selection.[6]
  • 1901 – a racing tip.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The act of selecting, or the fact of being selected; choice.
  2. Something or someone selected.
  3. A carefully chosen or representative collection: a selection of cheeses.
  4. A piece of writing or music chosen for reading or performance.
  5. In biology, a natural or artificial process favouring some organisms over others in survival and reproduction.

Word family

  • selectional
  • self-selection
  • nonselection
  • orthoselection
  • reselection
  • superselection
  • selectionist
  • adverse selection
  • elect
  • election
  • elective
  • elite
  • elitism
  • select
  • selectance
  • selectee
  • selective
  • selectivity
  • selectman
  • selector
  • collect
  • natural selection

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Morris, Edward E. (1898), Austral English: A Dictionary of Australasian Words, Phrases and Usages, London: Macmillan

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Selection.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/selection. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

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