Etymologically
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suggest

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /səˈdʒest/, US /səɡˈdʒest/[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin suggestus, past participle of suggerere (“to put under, bring up, supply, prompt”),[2][3][4] from sub- (“under, up”) and gerere (“to bring, carry”).[2][3][5] Barnhart treats it as a back-formation from suggestion, modelled on the Latin participle.[3] It is related to gesture and register.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To bring to mind, to put forward an idea: 1526,[3][6][4] at first often of something bad or evil.[3]

Semantic evolution

To prompt someone to evil, to tempt, is from before 1586 and is obsolete,[6] as is “to insinuate a false idea” (1607).[6] Of feelings or conscience, “to prompt”, is from 1583.[6] “To call up an idea by indirect association”, as in the shape suggests a bird, is from 1709 in Etymonline.[2] Suggestion is older, from about 1340 as “a prompting to evil” and later “a proposal”.[3] Suggestive is from the 17th century,[5] and suggestible from 1890.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1340 – suggestion, prompting to evil.[3]
  • 1526 – to bring to mind, propose.[3][6]
  • 1583 – to prompt.[6]
  • before 1586 – to tempt.[6]
  • 1709 – to evoke by association.[2]
  • 1890 – suggestible.[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To put forward for consideration; to propose.
  2. To bring to mind by association: the music suggests a summer day.
  3. To show or imply indirectly.
  4. To serve as a motive for; to prompt.

Word family

  • suggester
  • suggestedness
  • suggestingly
  • suggestion
  • suggestive
  • suggestible

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary groups suggest with imply, hint, intimate and insinuate, all meaning to convey ideas indirectly, and suggest refers to calling something to mind through an association of ideas.[7]

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin