Etymology

incubation period

Today it means: The time elapsed between an exposure to a pathogenic organism, a chemical or radiation, and the appearance of signs and symptoms. Full definition →

French période d'incubation ← Latin periodus incubationis
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Latin · derived fromperiodus incubationis
  2. French · calque ofpériode d'incubation
  3. English todayincubation period

Since 1850s, from earlier period of incubation, attested in that now obsolete sense since late 1820s, which is a calque of French période d'incubation (attested since mid-1810s), itself a calque from Latin periodus incubationis (attested since 1770s).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.