conception

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kənˈsɛpʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

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.

Antonyms

• misconception

Coordinate terms

• inception

Related terms

• conceive
• concept

Translations

initiation of an embryonic animal life

• Afrikaans: konsepsie
• Arabic: حَبَل m (ḥabal), حَمْل m (ḥaml)
• Aragonese: concepción f
• Belarusian: зача́цце n (začáccje)
• Bulgarian: заче́ване (bg) n (začévane)
• Catalan: concepció (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 受胎 (zh) (shòutāi), 受精 (zh) (shòujīng), 懷孕／怀孕 (zh) (huáiyùn), 怀孕 (zh) (huáiyùn)

• Czech: početí (cs) n
• Dutch: bevruchting (nl) f, ontvangenis (nl) f
• Esperanto: gravediĝo
• Estonian: kontseptsioon (et)
• Finnish: hedelmöitys (fi), hedelmöittyminen (fi)
• French: conception (fr) f
• Galician: concepción (gl) f
• German: Empfängnis (de) f
• Greek: σύλληψη (el) f (sýllipsi), επικύηση f (epikýisi)
• Hungarian: fogamzás (hu), fogantatás
• Icelandic: getnaður (is) m
• Irish: coimpeart f
• Italian: concezione (it) f, concepimento (it) m
• Japanese: 妊娠 (ja) (にんしん, ninshin), 受胎 (じゅたい, jutai)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kapampangan: pamangagli
• Korean: 임신 (ko) (imsin), 수태 (ko) (sutae)
• Latin: conceptio f
• Macedonian: зачнување n (začnuvanje)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: unnfangelse m

  Nynorsk: unnfanging f

• Polish: poczęcie (pl) n
• Portuguese: concepção (pt) f
• Romanian: concepere (ro) f, zămislire (ro) f, concepție (ro) f
• Russian: зача́тие (ru) n (začátije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: заче́ће n

  Roman: začéće (sh) n

• Slovak: počatie n
• Slovene: spočetje (sl) n, zanositev f
• Spanish: concepción (es) f
• Swedish: konception (sv) n
• Tagalog: lihi, paglilihi (tl)
• Ukrainian: зача́ття n (začáttja)
• Venetian: concesion f
• Vietnamese: quan niệm (vi)

the power or faculty of apprehending of forming an idea in the mind

• Bulgarian: , разбиране (bg) n (razbirane)
• Finnish: käsitteenmuodostus
• Greek: σύλληψη (el) f (sýllipsi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: felfogás (hu)
• Romanian: concepere (ro)
• Tagalog: kadalumatan

an image, idea, or notion formed in the mind

• Bashkir: төшөнсә (töşönsə)
• Bulgarian: предста́ва (bg) f (predstáva), поня́тие (bg) (ponjátie), конце́пция (bg) f (koncépcija)
• Dutch: concept (nl) n
• Finnish: suunnittelu (fi)
• French: conception (fr) f
• German: Vorstellung (de) f
• Greek: επινόηση (el) f (epinóisi), ιδέα (el) f (idéa)
• Hungarian: fogalom (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: concetto (it)
• Romanian: concept (ro) n, concepție (ro) f, imagine (ro) f, idee (ro) f, concepții f pl
• Russian: поня́тие (ru) n (ponjátije), конце́пция (ru) f (koncépcija), представле́ние (ru) n (predstavlénije), иде́я (ru) f (idéja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: концѐпција f

  Roman: koncèpcija (sh) f

• Tagalog: kadalumatan

See also

• contraception

References

• “conception”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “conception”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

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French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.sɛp.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

conception f (plural conceptions)

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

Related terms

• concept
• concevoir

Further reading

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

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Old French

Alternative forms

• concepcion

Etymology

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

Noun

conception oblique singular, 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

Descendants

• → English: conception
• French: conception