English
inception
Inception comes from Latin inceptiō ‘a beginning, start’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*keh₂p-root as named
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEincipiō‘to begin’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinceptusperfect passive participle of incipiō
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinceptiō‘a beginning, start’
- Englishearliest quotation 1851inception
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*keh₂p-root as named
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEincipiō‘to begin’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinceptusperfect passive participle of incipiō
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinceptiō‘a beginning, start’
- Englishearliest quotation 1851inception
Earliest quotation: 1851, – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe: “To fill up Liberia with an ignorant, inexperienced, half-barbarized…”
The story
Late Middle English, borrowed from Latin inceptiō, from inceptus, perfect passive participle of incipiō (‘to begin’). The layering sense derives from the 2010 science fiction film Inception, in which a team of people infiltrate someone’s subconscious mind, proceeding through several layers of dreams with the goal of causing the target to incept an idea.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p-
principal, princess, receiver, participant, receipt, unacceptable, incapable, receptor, recuperate, occupier, interception, misbehave, perceptive, princely, recuperation, 9 more
through Latin incipiō ‘to begin’
Today it means
noun The creation or beginning of something; the establishment.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p- / inception