suspicion

Pronunciation

• IPA: /səˈspɪʃ.ən/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman suspecioun, Old French sospeçon, mistrust (modern soupçon),^[2][3][4] from Latin suspectiō, mistrust, fear,^[2][3][4] from suspect-, past participle stem of suspicere, to look up at, mistrust (see suspect).^[2][3] The English spelling was reshaped in the 14th century after Latin suspīciō and learned Old French forms.^[2][3][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of suspecting, mistrust on slight evidence: probably before 1300 as suspecioun, in Kyng Alisaunder;^[2] about 1290 in the OED, of a person suspected of something.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The spelling suspicioun is from 1375, in Barbour's Bruce.^[2] A suspicious notion is from the late 14th century,^[3] and imagining something as possible or likely from about 1400.^[3] A slight trace (a suspicion of a smile) is a later use.^[8][9] The verb suspicion, to suspect, is dialect, recorded before 1820 in American English.^[2] Suspicious is from 1340.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1290 – suspecting a person.^[7]
• 1340 – suspicious.^[2]
• 1375 – the spelling suspicioun.^[2]
• c. 1400 – a supposition.^[3]
• before 1820 – to suspicion (dialect).^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A feeling or belief that something is wrong, or that someone is guilty, without sure proof.
2. The state of being suspected: under suspicion.
3. A feeling of mistrust or doubt.
4. A slight trace: a suspicion of garlic.

Word family

• suspicional
• suspicious
• suspect

Related words

• spectacle
• soupçon

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin