seniority

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English seniorite,^[2][3] borrowed from Medieval Latin seniōritās,^{[4][3][5][6][7]} formed from Latin senior (“older”) and the suffix -itās, the source of -ity.^[5][6][4] The Latin adjective is the comparative of the word for old, from Proto-Indo-European *sen- (“old”).^[3] The MED also compares Old French seignorité,^[2] which Etymonline gives as the Old French form.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Precedence by length of service: about 1450, in a rule of Syon Monastery that each member should keep his order "after their seniorite in religion".^[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-15th century,^[3] Dictionary.com to 1400–50.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was rank in a religious house or office according to length of service.^[2][4][3] The more general sense, the state of being older, or priority of birth, follows in 1533, in Thomas More.^[4][3] Johnson (1755) defined the word only as eldership and priority of birth.^[8] In military use it came to mean superior standing over an officer of the same rank through earlier entry into the service,^[4] and the Sailor's Word-Book explains it as rank according to the dates of commissions, or, for commissions of the same day, the order of the official lists.^[9] At the universities seniority was the body of senior fellows of a college from the late 17th century.^[4][3] In the 20th century the word came to name the privileged status that an employee gains by long continuous service, which decides layoffs and promotions;^[10][11] Mapping Metaphor places the word among those that describe office in terms of age, from the second half of the 15th century.^[12] In 1517 it was also used for signory, a body of signors.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1450 – precedence in an office or religious house by length of service.^[2][4]
• 1517 – a body of signors (obsolete).^[4]
• 1533 – the state of being older; priority of birth.^[4][3]
• 1687 – the body of senior fellows of a college.^[4] Etymonline dates the university sense to the 1670s.^[3]
• 1755 – Johnson defines it as eldership, priority of birth.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being older than others, or of higher rank.^[13][5][14]
2. Precedence over others of the same rank because of longer service: She was promoted ahead of him on grounds of seniority.^[13][10][14]
3. The privileges, such as protection from layoffs, that an employee gains through long continuous service.^[10][11]
4. At a college, the body of senior fellows.^[4][3]

Related words

• senate
• senator
• senior
• senile
• signory

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ Smyth, W. H. (1867), The Sailor's Word-Book: An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, London: Blackie and Son
10. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West
12. ^ Mapping Metaphor with the Historical Thesaurus, University of Glasgow, mappingmetaphor.arts.gla.ac.uk
13. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
14. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins