conception

From Middle English conceptioun, borrowed from Old French conception, from Latin conceptiō (“a comprehending, a collection, composition, an expression, also a becoming pregnant”), from concipiō, past participle conceptus (“conceive”); see conceive.

• IPA^(key): /kənˈsɛpʃən/

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conception (countable and uncountable, plural conceptions)

1. The act of conceiving.
2. The state of being conceived; the beginning.
3. The fertilization of an ovum by a sperm to form a zygote.
4. The start of pregnancy.
5. The formation of a conceptus or an implanted embryo.
6. The power or faculty of apprehending of forming an idea in the mind; the power of recalling a past sensation or perception; the ability to form mental abstractions.
7. An image, idea, or notion formed in the mind; a concept, plan or design.

• misconception

• inception

• conceive
• concept

• contraception

• conception in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• conception in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

From Old French conception, concepcion, borrowed from Latin conceptio, conceptionem (“comprehension, understanding”).

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.sɛp.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

conception f (plural conceptions)

1. conception (of a child)
2. conception (beginning, start)
3. ability to understand
4. viewpoint; angle
5. concept, idea

• concept
• concevoir

• “conception” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

• concepcion

Borrowed from Latin conceptio, conceptionem (“comprehension, understanding”).

conception f (oblique plural conceptions, nominative singular conception, nominative plural conceptions)

1. conception (of a child)
   • 1377, Bernard de Gordon, Fleur de lis de medecine (a.k.a. lilium medicine):

     Et sont retenus naturellement comme en concepcion

     And they [menses] are naturally retained in the case of conception

• English: conception (borrowed)
• French: conception