invention

English

Etymology

From Middle English invencion, invencioun, from Latin inventiō either directly or via Middle French invencion, from Latin invenīre (“to discover, find, invent”), from in- (“in-: in, into”) + venīre (“to come”). Doublet of inventio. Equivalent to invent +‎ -ion.

Displaced native Old English orþanc.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈvɛnʃən/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

Noun

invention (countable and uncountable, plural inventions)

2. Something invented.

   My new invention will let you alphabetize your matchbook collection in half the usual time.

   (here signifying a process or mechanism not previously devised)

   I'm afraid there was no burglar. It was all the housekeeper's invention.

   (here signifying a fiction created for a particular purpose)

   • 1944 November 28, Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe, Meet Me in St. Louis, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer:

     Warren Sheffield is telephoning Rose long distance at half past six. […] Personally, I wouldn't marry a man who proposed to me over an invention.

   • 2013 October 5, “The widening gyre”, in The Economist, volume 409, number 8856:

     British inventions have done more to influence the shape of the modern world than those of any other country. Many—football, the steam engine and Worcestershire sauce, to take a random selection—have spread pleasure, goodwill and prosperity. Others—the Maxim gun, the Shrapnel shell and jellied eels—have not.

4. The act of inventing.

   The invention of the printing press was probably the most significant innovation of the medieval ages.

   • 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist:

     Digging deeper, the invention of eyeglasses is an elaboration of the more fundamental development of optics technology. The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, […] .

5. The capacity to invent.

   It took quite a bit of invention to come up with a plan, but we did it.

7. (music) A small, self-contained composition, particularly those in J.S. Bach’s Two- and Three-part Inventions.

   I particularly like the inventions in C-minor.

   • 1880, George Grove (editor and entry author), A Dictionary of Music and Musicians II, London: Macmillan & Co., page 15, Invention:

     INVENTION. A term used by J. S. Bach, and probably by him only, for small pianoforte pieces — 15 in 2 parts and 15 in 3 parts — each developing a single idea, and in some measure answering to the Impromptu of a later day.

8. (archaic) The act of discovering or finding; the act of finding out; discovery.

   That judicial method which serveth best for the invention of truth.

Synonyms

• discovery

Derived terms

• Invention of the Cross
• necessity is the mother of invention

 

Related terms

• invent
• invented
• inventive
• inventor
• reinvent

 

Translations

something invented

• Afrikaans: uitvinding
• Albanian: shpikje (sq) f
• Arabic: اِخْتِرَاع m (iḵtirāʕ)
• Armenian: գյուտ (hy) (gyut)
• Asturian: invención f, inventu m
• Azerbaijani: ixtira (az)
• Belarusian: вынахо́дства n (vynaxódstva)
• Bengali: আবিষ্কার (bn) (abiśkar)
• Bulgarian: изобрете́ние (bg) n (izobreténie), откритие (bg) n (otkritie)
• Burmese: တီထွင်မှု (tihtwanghmu.)
• Catalan: invenció (ca) f, invent (ca) m
• Cherokee: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 發明 / 发明 (zh) (fāmíng)

• Czech: vynález (cs) m
• Danish: opfindelse
• Dutch: uitvinding (nl) f
• Esperanto: invento (eo)
• Estonian: leiutis
• Finnish: keksintö (fi)
• French: invention (fr) f
• Galician: invención (gl) f, invento m
• Georgian: გამოგონებისა (gamogonebisa)
• German: Erfindung (de) f

  Alemannic German: Erfindig f

• Greek: εφεύρεση (el) f (efévresi)

  Ancient: εὕρημα n (heúrēma)

• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Hebrew: הַמְצָאָה f (hamtsa'á)
• Hindi: आविष्कार (hi) (āviṣkār)
• Hungarian: találmány (hu)
• Icelandic: uppfinning f
• Ido: inventuro (io)
• Indonesian: temuan (id)
• Irish: aireagán m
• Italian: invenzione (it) f
• Japanese: 発明 (ja) (はつめい, hatsumei)
• Khmer: ប្រឌិត (prɑdɨt), ការប្រឌិត (kaa prɑdɨt), តក្កកម្ម (km) (takkaʼkam)
• Korean: 발명(發明) (ko) (balmyeong)
• Latvian: izgudrojums m
• Lithuanian: išradimas m
• Luxembourgish: Erfindung f
• Macedonian: пронајдок m (pronajdok), изум m (izum)
• Maltese: invenzjoni f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: oppfinnelse

• Old English: orþanc m
• Persian: اختراع (fa) (exterâ')
• Polish: wynalazek (pl) m
• Portuguese: invenção (pt) f
• Romanian: invenție (ro) f
• Russian: изобрете́ние (ru) n (izobreténije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: изум m

  Roman: izum (sh) m

• Slovak: vynález m
• Slovene: izum (sl) m
• Spanish: invención (es) f, invento (es) m
• Swedish: uppfinning (sv) c
• Tagalog: imbensiyon
• Tajik: ихтироъ (ixtiroʾ)
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Telugu: కల్పన (te) (kalpana)
• Thai: สิ่งประดิษฐ์ (sìng-bprà-dìt)
• Tibetan: གསར་བཟོ (gsar bzo)
• Turkish: buluş (tr), icat (tr)
• Ukrainian: ви́нахід m (výnaxid)
• Urdu: اِیجاد m sg (ījād), اِیجادات m pl (ījādāt)
• Uyghur: كەشپ (keshp), كەشپىيات (keshpiyat)
• Uzbek: ixtiro (uz)
• Vietnamese: phát minh (vi) (發明), sáng chế (vi) (創制)
• Volapük: datuvot (vo)
• Welsh: dyfais (cy) f

act of inventing

• Asturian: invención f
• Bulgarian: откриване (bg) n (otkrivane), изобретяване n (izobretjavane)
• Catalan: invenció (ca) f
• Finnish: keksiminen (fi)
• Galician: invención (gl) f
• Georgian: გამოგონება (gamogoneba)
• German: Erfinden n
• Greek: εφεύρεση (el) f (efévresi)

  Ancient: εὕρεσις f (heúresis)

• Hungarian: feltalálás (hu)
• Ido: invento (io)
• Indonesian: penemuan (id)
• Irish: fionnachtain f
• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Latvian: izgudrošana f
• Old English: orþanc m
• Polish: wynalezienie (pl) n
• Portuguese: invenção (pt) f
• Russian: изобрете́ние (ru) n (izobreténije), созда́ние (ru) n (sozdánije)

capacity to invent

• Bulgarian: изобретателност (bg) f (izobretatelnost)
• Catalan: inventiva (ca) f
• Finnish: kekseliäisyys (fi)
• Georgian: გამომგონებლობა (gamomgonebloba)
• German: Einfallsreichtum (de) n
• Irish: aireag f
• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: invenção (pt) f, inventividade f
• Russian: изобрета́тельность (ru) f (izobretátelʹnostʹ), нахо́дчивость (ru) f (naxódčivostʹ)
• Spanish: invención (es) f
• Swedish: uppfinningsförmåga c, uppfinningsrikedom (sv) c

small self-contained musical composition

• Catalan: invenció (ca) f
• Finnish: inventio
• German: Invention f
• Hungarian: invenció (hu)
• Italian: inventione f, invenzione (it) f
• Japanese: インベンション (inbenshon)
• Portuguese: invenção (pt) f
• Russian: инве́нция (ru) f (invéncija)
• Swedish: invention (sv) c
• Ukrainian: інве́нція f (invéncija)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} uitvinding (nl) f
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} המצאה f
• Hungarian: ^{(please verify)} találmány (hu)
• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} išradimas m
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} invenție (ro) f
• Slovene: (1) ^{(please verify)} izum (sl) m
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} icat (tr)
• Urdu: ^{(please verify)} ایجاد f (ejād)
• Volapük: ^{(please verify)} datuv (vo), ^{(please verify)} datuvam

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “invention”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin inventiōnem, from invenio.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.vɑ̃.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

invention f (plural inventions)

1. invention

Derived terms

• la nécessité est la mère de l’invention

Related terms

• inventer
• inventeur

Further reading

• “invention”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.