fiction

Where does the word "fiction" come from? It comes from Latin fictio, and was adopted directly into English (1300s).

Fiction’s story begins in Latin: fictio meant “a shaping, a forming.” A shaping, a forming, from fingere (to shape, to form). It reached English by 1300s as fiction. Settled as the English word for invented, imaginative narrative. Today, fiction means literature that describes imaginary events and people, rather than real ones.

1. Stage 1 · Latin · ancient fictio "a shaping, a forming", a shaping, a forming, from fingere (to shape, to form).
2. Stage 2 · English · 1300s fiction "literature describing imaginary events and people", settled as the English word for invented, imaginative narrative.