vocational

Etymology

It is formed from English vocation + -al.^[2][3][4][5] The noun vocation, recorded from 1442, when it was used of a church's calling of a person to the ministry,^[2][6] comes from Old French vocacion and vocaciun, or directly from Latin vocātiō (“a calling, summons”),^[2][4][5][7] which is formed from vocō (“to call”).^[6][4][5] The Latin verb is related to vōx (“voice”),^[4][8] and the American Heritage Dictionary and Etymonline trace both to Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ- (“to speak”).^[6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Relating to a religious vocation or other calling: 1652, in J. Gaule's Pys-mantia: The Mag-Astro-Mancer.^[2][9] Barnhart and Etymonline also date the adjective to 1652 or the 1650s,^[5][4] and Dictionary.com to 1645–55.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The adjective followed the senses of its noun. Vocation was at first God's call to a particular way of life; from 1553 it also meant a person's ordinary occupation or trade,^[2][5] a sense that Barnhart thinks may have been helped by the same meaning in French.^[5] Vocational was used of a trade or profession from 1665.^[2] The sense now most common, of education or training aimed at a particular, often manual or technical, occupation, is recorded from 1902, in the Boston Globe;^[2] phrases such as vocational school and vocational guidance belong to it.^[9][11] Sociologists used the word from 1960 for students who see their studies mainly as a way to a good job.^[2] In American English it also became a noun: the vocational for such training (1909), and a vocational for a student on such a course (1916) or a vocational school (1932).^[2]

Timeline

• 1652 – relating to a religious vocation or calling.^[2][9][5]
• 1665 – relating to a trade, profession or occupation.^[2]
• 1902 – of education or training for a particular occupation.^[2]
• 1909 – noun, the vocational, vocational training.^[2]
• 1916 – noun, a student on a vocational course (chiefly US).^[2]
• 1932 – noun, a vocational school or course.^[2]
• 1960 – in sociology, of students who study mainly to get a good job.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to a vocation, occupation or profession.^[11][9][2]
2. Of education or training: teaching the skills needed for a particular trade or job, often with a view to employment soon afterwards: She took a vocational course in carpentry.^[11][9][2]
3. Followed as a vocation or calling.^[9][2]

Word family

• vocationally
• nonvocational
• prevocational
• vocationalism

Related words

• vocation
• avocation
• vocal
• voice
• vocative
• invoke
• provoke

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins