Introduction

How to spell introduction

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce introduction

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does introduction mean?

1. nounThe act of bringing something into use or presenting one person formally to another.
2. nounThe opening section of a book, report, or speech that leads into the main content.

Introduction in a sentence

• The manager handled the introduction of every new employee personally.

• She summarised her argument clearly in the introduction to the report.

• The company timed the introduction of its new product for the spring.

• The textbook's introduction explains how each chapter is organised.

Where does introduction come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin introductio, a noun built on the verb introducere, which literally meant 'to lead inward' or 'to bring inside'. That verb combined intro, meaning 'to the inside' or 'inwardly', with ducere, 'to lead', a hugely productive root that also gave English words such as conduct, produce, reduce, and aqueduct. English took the word in through Old French during the late fourteenth century, at first carrying the concrete sense of bringing something in or instituting something new. From there the meaning broadened to cover the act of making people known to one another and the opening part of a book or speech that leads the reader inward to the main matter. The spelling trap lives in the middle: the 'duc' from ducere is pronounced with a soft schwa that gives no clue it is spelled d-u-c, and the doubled vowel feel of -tion at the end catches writers who expect -sion.

How the word is built

• intro- (inward, to the inside)
• duct (from Latin ducere, to lead)
• -ion (noun of action)