conceive

English

Alternative forms

• conceave (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English conceyven, from Old French concevoir, conceveir, from Latin concipiō, concipere (“to take”), from con- (“together”) + capiō (“to take”). Compare deceive, perceive, receive.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kənˈsiːv/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːv

Verb

conceive (third-person singular simple present conceives, present participle conceiving, simple past and past participle conceived)

1. (transitive) To develop an idea; to form in the mind; to plan; to devise; to originate.
   • c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals), page 4:

     We shall, / As I conceive the journey, be at the Mount / Before you, Lepidus.

   • 1776, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], OCLC 995235880:

     It was among the ruins of the Capitol that I first conceived the idea of a work which has amused and exercised near twenty years of my life.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter III, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698:

     Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.

2. (transitive) To understand (someone).
   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 3, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, OCLC 223202227:

     I conceive you.

   • 1731, Jonathan Swift, Polite Conversation:

     You will hardly conceive him to have been bred in the same climate.

4. (intransitive or transitive) To become pregnant (with).

   Assisted procreation can help those trying to conceive.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Luke 1:36:

     She hath also conceived a son in her old age.

5. To generate or engender; to bring into being.
   • 1887, H. Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure‎^[1]:

     At the mouth of the cave we found a single litter with six bearers, all of them mutes, waiting, and with them I was relieved to see our old friend Billali, for whom I had conceived a sort of affection.

Related terms

• conceivable
• conceiver
• concept
• conception

Translations

to develop an idea

• Albanian: mendoj (sq), krijoj (sq)
• Armenian: հղանալ (hy) (hłanal)
• Bulgarian: замислям (bg) (zamisljam)
• Catalan: concebre (ca)
• Czech: koncipovat, vymyslet (cs), formulovat
• Dutch: krijgen (nl)
• Finnish: kehitellä (fi), suunnitella (fi)
• French: concevoir (fr)
• Galician: argallar (gl)
• German: konzipieren (de), erdenken (de), ersinnen (de)
• Greek: συλλαμβάνω (el) (syllamváno), διανοούμαι (el) (dianooúmai)
• Hungarian: elképzel (hu), felfog (hu)

• Italian: concepire (it), sviluppare (it), ideare (it)
• Japanese: 思い付く (ja) (おもいつく, omoitsuku)
• Korean: 마음에 품다 (ma'eume pumda)
• Latin: concipiō (la), imaginor
• Middle English: conceyven
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: unnfange

• Portuguese: conceber (pt)
• Russian: замышлять (ru) (zamyšljatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: zamisliti (sh)
• Spanish: concebir (es)
• Turkish: yaratmak (tr)

to understand someone

• Bulgarian: схващам (bg) (shvaštam), разбирам (bg) (razbiram)
• Czech: pochopit (cs), chápat (cs) impf
• Danish: forstå (da)
• Dutch: begrijpen (nl)
• Estonian: käsitama
• Finnish: ymmärtää (fi)
• German: empfangen (de), verstehen (de)
• Greek: καταλαβαίνω (el) (katalavaíno), αντιλαμβάνομαι (el) (antilamvánomai), εννοώ (el) (ennoó)
• Hungarian: megért (hu)
• Italian: concepire (it)

• Korean: 이해하다 (ko) (ihaehada)
• Latin: teneo (la)
• Mandarin: 理解 (zh)
• Middle English: conceyven
• Portuguese: compreender (pt)
• Russian: понима́ть (ru) (ponimátʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: shvatiti (sh)
• Spanish: concebir (es)
• Turkish: anlamak (tr)

to become pregnant

• Arabic: حَبِلَ‎ (ḥabila)
• Armenian: հղիանալ (hy) (hłianal)
• Bulgarian: забременя́вам impf (zabremenjávam), забремене́я pf (zabremenéja)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 懷孕 (zh), 怀孕 (zh) (huáiyùn), 懷 (zh), 怀 (zh) (huái), 有喜 (zh) (yǒu xǐ) (euphemism and colloquial)

• Czech: počít (cs), otěhotnět (cs) pf
• Dutch: zwanger worden
• Egyptian: (jwr)
• Esperanto: gravediĝi (intransitive), koncipi (transitive)
• Estonian: rasestuma
• Finnish: tulla raskaaksi
• French: concevoir (fr), tomber enceinte (fr)
• German: empfangen (de), schwanger werden
• Greek: συλλαμβάνω (el) (syllamváno), μένω έγκυος (méno égkyos)
• Hungarian: teherbe esik (hu)
• Italian: concepire (it)

• Japanese: 妊娠する (ja) (にんしんする, ninshin suru), 孕む (はらむ, haramu)
• Korean: 임신하다 (ko) (imsinhada)
• Maori: whakaira tangata, tō, tinaku
• Middle English: conceyven
• Mwali Comorian: urenga mimba
• Ngazidja Comorian: urenga hamili
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: unnfange

• Portuguese: conceber (pt)
• Russian: бере́менеть (ru) impf (berémenetʹ), забере́менеть (ru) pf (zaberémenetʹ) (intransitive), зача́ть (ru) pf (začátʹ) (transitive)
• Serbo-Croatian: začeti (sh)
• Slovene: zanositi
• Spanish: concebir (es)
• Tagalog: maglihi
• Turkish: gebe kalmak (tr), hamile kalmak
• Ugaritic: 𐎅𐎗𐎊 (hry)

Further reading

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

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Middle English

Verb

conceive

1. Alternative form of conceyven