Etymology

abstention

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Today it means: The act of restraining oneself. Full definition →

First used Attested from the early 16ᵗʰ century until the med 17ᵗʰ century.French abstention ← Late Latin abstēntiō ← Latin abstinēō
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromabstinēō“withhold, to abstain”
  2. Late Latin · derived fromabstēntiō
  3. French · borrowed fromabstention
  4. English todayabstention

First attested in 1521. Borrowed from French abstention, from Late Latin abstēntiō from Latin abstinēō (“withhold, to abstain”)

Words from the same roots

Latinabstinēō all →

abstain

First known use, by meaning

  • Attested from the early 16ᵗʰ century until the med 17ᵗʰ century. The act of restraining oneself.
  • First attested in the early 17ᵗʰ century. The act of abstaining or refraining (from).
  • First attested in the late 19ᵗʰ century. The act of declining to vote on a particular issue.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.