statehood

Etymology

It is formed from English state + -hood.^[2][3][4] State came into Middle English through Old French estat from Latin status.^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The condition or status of being a political state: 1805, in a letter by Thomas Paine,^[2][6] printed in his Political and Miscellaneous Works in 1819,^[2] the year Etymonline gives for the word.^[3] Dictionary.com dates it 1865–70 and marks it as an Americanism,^[4] and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate gives 1868.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Besides the general sense of being a sovereign, independent state,^[8][9][10] American usage applies the word to the status of one of the states of the United States, which a territory may achieve.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 1805 – the condition or status of being a political state.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The status of being a recognized independent nation; national sovereignty: The colony's long campaign for statehood finally succeeded.^[10][8][9]
2. The status of being one of the states of the United States, rather than a territory: The territory's voters were asked whether to seek statehood.^[8][9]

Related words

• state
• nationhood

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
10. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press