inherent English · revision 39447

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1578|origins=la haereō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ɪnˈhɪəɹənt/, /ɪnˈhɛɹənt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|inhaerēns|t=adhering, closely connected]], the present participle of [[m|la|inhaereō|t=to stick in, cling to]],^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024) probably also helped by [[frm|inhérent]].^(Barnhart 1988) The verb is formed from [[m|la|in-|t=in]] and [[m|la|haereō|t=to stick, adhere]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) the verb behind [[hesitate]].^(Etymonline)^(Skeat 1911)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Physically fixed or lodged in something: 1578, in John Banister's ''Historie of Man''.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The concrete sense of something stuck inside something else came first and is now rare or obsolete.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) A figurative use, "permanently dwelling in a person", followed in 1601,^(OED 2026) but the sense that took over was the abstract one of a quality that belongs to the very nature of a thing, recorded from 1588.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) Johnson (1755) defined the word as existing in something so as to be inseparable from it, and as innate or inborn.^(Johnson 1755) A legal sense, of a right or power vested in a person or office, dates from 1628, in Coke's ''Institutes''.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1578 – fixed or situated in something, in the physical sense.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1588 – existing as an essential or permanent quality.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1601 – figuratively, permanently dwelling in a person.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1628 – vested in a person or office as a right.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED)

+ * 1755 – Johnson defines it as inseparable, innate, inborn.^(Johnson 1755)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Belonging to the basic nature of something as a permanent part that cannot be separated from it; [[intrinsic]].^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # ''(law)'' Held as a right or [[privilege]] by a person or an office.^(COED 2004)^(ODE 2010)

+ # ''(archaic)'' Stuck fast in something.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[inherently]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[adherent]]

+ * [[coherent]]

+ * [[inhere]]

+ * [[inherence]]

+ * [[inherency]]

+ * [[adhere]]

+ * [[cohere]]

+ * [[hesitate]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Wiktionary warns against confusing ''inherent'' with ''[[inherit]]'', which is unrelated.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}