conscious English · revision 7224

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1573|origins=la conscius}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈkɑn.ʃəs/; /ˈkɒn.ʃəs/, /ˈkɒntʃəs/ ''(UK)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|conscius|t=knowing something with others; knowing in oneself]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002) from [[m|la|conscio|alt=cōnscīre|t=to be mutually aware]], from [[m|la|com-|t=with; thoroughly]] and [[m|la|scio|alt=scīre|t=to know]] (see [[science]]).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The Latin word was probably a loan-translation of Greek [[m|grc|συνειδώς|tr=suneidṓs]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Knowing, privy to: 1601, in Ben Jonson's ''Poetaster'';^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) about 1600 in Etymonline.^(Etymonline) MWU dates it to 1573.^(MWU 2024) NODE gives the first sense as ''aware of wrongdoing''.^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Latin the sense moved from ''knowing along with others'' to ''privy to a crime, guilty'' and also ''inwardly aware''.^(Barnhart 1988) In English ''conscious to oneself'', having inward witness, is from 1620,^(OED 1989) and knowing or perceiving within oneself, aware, from 1632 (the 1630s in Etymonline), perhaps shortened from it.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) Having guilty knowledge is from 1652,^(OED 1989) and aware of a fact from the 1650s.^(Etymonline) Awake and having the use of one's faculties is from 1837.^(Etymonline) [[consciousness|alt=Consciousness]] is from 1632.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1573 – first use (MWU).^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1601 – privy to.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1620 – conscious to oneself.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1632 – inwardly aware.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1837 – awake.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Aware of one's surroundings and able to think and feel; awake.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(conscious of)'' Aware of or noticing something.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Done deliberately; intentional: ''a conscious decision''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Concerned with or attentive to something: ''fashion-conscious''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(the conscious)'' The part of the mind that is aware.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[consciously]]

+ * [[consciousness]]

+ * [[preconscious]]

+ * [[self-conscious]]

+ * [[subconscious]]

+ * [[foreconscious]]

+ * [[hyperconscious]]

+ * [[nonconscious]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[conscience]]

+ * [[science]]

+ * [[unconscious]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}