update

Pronunciation

• IPA: verb: /ʌpˈdeɪt/; noun: /ˈʌp.deɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from English up + date, first American,^[2][3][4] from the phrase up to date.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To bring information up to date: 1941 in Merriam-Webster,^[3] 1944 in Etymonline^[2] and 1948 in the OED,^[5] which also has an isolated early British example from 1910.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Of persons, “to supply with the most recent information”, it is from 1952,^[2][5] and of equipment or processes, to modernize, from 1959.^[5] The noun, new information or an updated version, is from 1967 in Etymonline and the OED,^[2][5] and 1965 in Merriam-Webster.^[3] In computing, the act of updating data is from 1968.^[5]

Timeline

• 1910 – an isolated British use.^[5]
• 1941 – to bring up to date.^[3]
• 1952 – to inform a person.^[2][5]
• 1959 – to modernize equipment.^[5]
• 1965 – noun.^[3]
• 1967 – new information.^[2][5]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To bring up to date with the latest information or changes.
2. To give a person the latest information.
3. To modernize equipment or software.

Noun

1. Information that brings something up to date.
2. The act of updating, or an up-to-date version: a software update.

Word family

• updatable
• updater

Related words

• up
• date
• outdated
• backdate

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press