English
conscious
Conscious comes from Latin cōnscius ‘conscious, conscious of guilt’, and goes back to sciō ‘to know’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsciō1as scīre‘to know’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnscius1‘conscious, conscious of guilt’
- Englishearliest quotation 1811conscious1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English conscious
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1811, Jane Austen, London: […] C[harles] Roworth: “He coloured very deeply, and giving a momentary glance…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsciōWiktionary, English consciousas scīre‘to know’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnsciusWiktionary, English conscious‘conscious, conscious of guilt’
- Englishearliest quotation 1811consciousWiktionary, English conscious. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1811, Jane Austen, London: […] C[harles] Roworth: “He coloured very deeply, and giving a momentary glance…”
The story
First use appears c. 1573 in the sense of "aware of wrongdoing".https://web.archive.org/web/20220714064352/https://www.lexico.com/definition/conscious From Latin cōnscius (‘conscious, conscious of guilt’), itself from con- (a form of com- (‘together’)) + scīre (‘to know’) + -us.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *skey- ‘to distinguish, dissect’
ship, equipment, shift, shed, skip, kyle, ski, shin, squire, sheath, skeet, skiff, chine, scuttle, prescient, skein, scullery, shud, 40 more
through Proto-Italic *skijō
nicely, omniscience, prescience, 13 more
through Latin sciō ‘to know’
Today it means
adj Alert, awake; with one's mental faculties active.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “conscious”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Latin sciō / conscious