insight English · revision 7038

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=c. 1200}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈɪnsaɪ̯t/ ''(UK)''; /ˈɪnsaɪ̯t/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a compound of [[in]] and [[sight]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) probably of Scandinavian and Low German origin, related to Swedish insikt, Danish [[m|da|indsigt]], Dutch [[m|nl|inzicht]] and German [[m|de|Einsicht]].^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Inner sight, mental vision, discernment: about 1200, in Layamon's ''Brut''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Knowledge of or skill in a subject is also from about 1200.^(OED 1989) The meaning was often felt as ''sight into'' something, and it shifted to penetrating understanding of the inner nature of something in the 1580s;^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) Barnhart records it first in Sidney's ''Apology for Poetry''.^(Barnhart 1988) In psychology, a patient's awareness of their own condition is a 20th-century sense.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023) In Scotland and the north of England, insight also meant household goods and furniture, perhaps the same word.^(SOED 2002)^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1200 – mental vision.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1580 – penetrating understanding.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The ability to understand the true nature of something clearly and deeply.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # An instance of this; a clear [[perception]] or understanding.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(psychology)'' Awareness of one's own mental condition or behaviour.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[insightful]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[outsight]]

+ * [[sight]]

+ * [[see]]

+ * [[foresight]]

+ * [[hindsight]]

+ * [[oversight]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}