visit

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈvɪz.ɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English visiten, borrowed from Old French visiter (“to visit; to inspect; to afflict”) and directly borrowed from Latin vīsitāre (“to go to see, come to inspect”),^[2][3][4] a frequentative of vīsere (“to look at, go to see”),^[2][4] from vīs-, the past participle stem of vidēre (“to see”),^[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *weid- (“to see”),^[2][4] the root also of wit.^[3][5] The SOED notes that the early senses follow those of Late Latin visitāre in the Vulgate.^[6] The noun comes from the verb, and partly from French visite.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

“To come to a person to comfort or benefit them”, originally often of God: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle,^[3] or the early 13th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

“To go to see a person in distress or illness” is from about 1250,^[3] and “to call on socially” from before 1300.^[3] The general sense “to come or go to see” is from the mid-13th century,^[2] and visiting a place for pleasure or business from about 1400.^[3] “To come upon, afflict”, as of sickness or punishment, is from 1424,^[3] and Hoad gives the 14th century.^[7] The noun, a friendly or formal call, is from 1621,^[8][3][9] pay a visit from the 1650s,^[2] a doctor's professional call from 1719,^[8][2] a sightseeing trip from 1800,^[8][2] and a visit to a doctor or dentist from 1884.^[8][2] The noun visiting is older in this sense, from the early 14th century.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1200 – to come to comfort.^[3]
• c. 1250 – to visit the sick.^[3]
• before 1300 – to call on socially.^[3]
• c. 1400 – to visit a place.^[3]
• 1424 – to afflict.^[3]
• 1621 – noun, a call.^[8]
• 1719 – a doctor's visit.^[8]
• 1800 – a sightseeing trip.^[8]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To go to see a person or place for social, business or other reasons.
2. To stay with as a guest.
3. To come upon or afflict: visited by plague.

Noun

1. An act of visiting; a stay or call.
2. A professional call, as by a doctor.
3. A trip to a place: a visit to Rome.

Word family

• intervisit
• previsit
• visitable
• visitation
• visitor
• state visit

Related words

• unvisited
• vision
• video
• view
• wit
• advise
• revise

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 l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster