Insertions

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The action of placing something inside or among other things
2. The additions or incorporations of elements into a larger structure or system
3. Instances of adding materials or information to enhance or modify existing content

Etymology: "Insertions" is the plural of "insertion," a noun formed in English from "insert" and the suffix "-ion." The suffix traces back to Latin "-tio," a noun-forming ending attached to verb stems, which passed into Old French as "-ation" and reached Middle English as "-aciioun" before settling into the form English uses today. The verb underneath it, "insert," comes from the Latin verb "inserere," meaning to put, plant, or graft something into something else, built from "in-" ("into") and "serere" ("to join or sow"). The surprising thread here is the agricultural image hidden in the root. "Serere" referred to planting seed, and grafting a shoot into a tree was a kind of insertion, so the original sense was physical and horticultural before it became a matter of putting words into a text. The modern sense, adding material or information to modify existing content, is a figurative extension of that idea of setting one thing into the middle of another.

Synonyms: additions, inclusions

Antonyms: removals, exclusions