adscititious

adjective

ad·​sci·​ti·​tious ˌad-sə-ˈti-shəs 

: derived or acquired from something extrinsic

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The History of Adscititious

Adscititious comes from a very "knowledgeable" family—it ultimately derives from scīscere, the Latin verb meaning "to get to know, ascertain, vote for, approve." The related scīre means "to know" and is fundamental to science, conscience, prescience ("foreknowledge"), nescience ("lack of knowledge"), as well as adscititious. Admittedly, adscititious is more akin to adscīscere, which means "to admit" or "to adopt." This explains why adscititious describes something adopted from an outside source.

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin adscītīcius, ascītīcius, from Latin adscītus, ascītus, past participle of adscīscere, ascīscere "to take to oneself, admit, adopt" (from ad- ad- + scīscere "to get to know, ascertain, vote for, approve," inchoative derivative of scīre "to know") + -īcius -itious — more at science

First Known Use

1620, in the meaning defined above

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