English
audience
Audience comes from Old French audience, from Latin audientia ‘a hearing, attention’, from audiēns ‘hearing’, from audiō ‘to hear’.
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*awizdiō‘to hear’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaudiō‘to hear, listen’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEaudiēns‘hearing, listening’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEaudientia‘act of hearing; attention’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400audience
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600audience
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500audience
- Englishearliest quotation 1526audience
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*awizdiō‘to hear’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaudiō‘to hear, listen’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEaudiēns‘hearing, listening’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEaudientia‘act of hearing; attention’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400audience
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600audience
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500audience
- Englishearliest quotation 1526audience
Earliest quotation: 1526, [William Tyndale, The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible): “WHen he had ended all his ſayingꝭ in the…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- ‘to see, perceive’
love, egg, ear, aviation, acoustic, oval, avid, anesthesia, ey, ovation, avian, aviator, auspicious, aural, aviary, ocarina, avarice, otolaryngology, 64 more
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewis ‘clearly, manifestly’
through Proto-Italic *awizdiō ‘to hear’
audition, auditorium, auditor, 7 more
through Latin audiō ‘to hear’
Today it means
noun A group of people within hearing; specifically, a large gathering of people listening to or watching a performance, speech, etc.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Italic *awizdiō / audience