Etymologically
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simulate

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈsɪm.jʊˌleɪt/[1]
  • US: /ˈsɪm.jəˌleɪt/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin simulātus, the past participle of simulō (“to make like, imitate, counterfeit”),[2][3][4][5] from similis (“like”),[2][6][4][7] the source of similar.[3][8] Barnhart and Etymonline think the verb was also a back-formation from simulation, which is recorded from 1340;[9][3][10] Barnhart derives it too from the earlier adjective simulate.[9] Klein derives the Latin verb from simul (“at the same time, together”),[11] and Ayto says that similis or simul goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sem-, the source also of same, simple and single.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective, pretended or feigned: 1435, in R. Misyn's translation of Rolle's Fire of Love.[2][9] The verb, to put on the false appearance of something, to feign, is first recorded in 1652,[2][9][4] but Etymonline finds it implied in simulated in the 1620s.[3]

Semantic evolution

From the start the verb meant to feign or to counterfeit, to put on the signs of a feeling one does not have.[2][5] By 1661, in Fuller, it could also mean simply to look very like something,[2] and in 1876 it was first used in zoology of animals that mimic others.[2] The modern scientific sense, to imitate the conditions or behaviour of a process by means of a model, especially on a computer, for study or training, dates from 1947.[2][3] The adjective simulate survives only as an archaism for "simulated".[4][12][5]

Timeline

  • 1340 – simulation, in Middle English simulacioun.[9]
  • 1435 – adjective, feigned, pretended.[2][9]
  • 1620s – the verb implied in simulated.[3]
  • 1652 – verb, to feign, to assume the false appearance of.[2][4]
  • 1661 – to look very like something.[2]
  • 1823 – intransitive, to pretend.[2]
  • 1876 – zoology, to mimic.[2]
  • 1947 – to imitate a process by means of a model.[2][3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To make a show of; to feign or pretend: He simulated surprise when the guests shouted.[12][4][2]
  2. To have or take on the look or effect of; to imitate: a vinyl floor made to simulate oak.[12][4][2]
  3. To reproduce the conditions of a situation or process, especially with a computer model, for study, testing or training: The software simulates a landing in high winds.[12][2]

Adjective

  1. (archaic) Simulated, pretended.[12][4][5]

Word family

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 n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  9. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  10. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  12. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins