suspect

Pronunciation

• IPA: verb: /səˈspekt/; noun, adjective: /ˈsʌs.pekt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English suspect, borrowed from Old French suspect (“suspicious”), and directly from Latin suspectus (“suspected, regarded with mistrust”),^[2][3] the past participle of suspicere “to look up at; to look up to, admire; to look at secretly, mistrust”,^[2][3][4] from sub- “up to, from below” and specere “to look at”,^[2][3][5] from Proto-Indo-European *spek- (“to observe”).^[2] The verb is partly from the adjective, and partly from French suspecter and Latin suspectāre “to mistrust”, the frequentative of suspicere.^[2][3][6] It is related to suspicion, spy and inspect.^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective, suspected or regarded with mistrust: 1340 in the OED, before 1325 in Barnhart, in Cursor Mundi,^[7][3] the early 14th century in Etymonline.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The noun first meant suspicion or mistrust (about 1386), as in to have in suspect.^[7][2] The verb, to believe someone guilty without proof, is from before 1450, the mid-15th century in Etymonline.^[3][2] To imagine something to be likely is from the 1540s,^[2] and to doubt or mistrust from the 1560s.^[2] The noun, a suspected person, is from 1591, the 1590s in Etymonline.^[3][2] Hoad notes that the adjective fell out of use after about 1700 and the noun after about 1600, until they were revived in the 19th century after the French use of suspect for a person thought hostile to the Revolution.^[4]

Timeline

• a. 1325 – adjective, regarded with mistrust.^[3]
• c. 1386 – noun, suspicion.^[7]
• a. 1450 – verb, to believe guilty.^[3]
• 1540s – to imagine likely.^[2]
• 1591 – noun, a suspected person.^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To believe that something is probably true or likely.
2. To believe that someone is guilty of something, without proof.
3. To doubt or mistrust.

Noun

1. A person thought to be guilty of a crime.

Adjective

1. Not to be trusted; open to suspicion: a suspect package.

Word family

• suspectible
• nonsuspect

Related words

• suspicion
• suspicious
• spy
• inspect
• respect

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 k l 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 Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press