Percepcioun

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process by which the mind becomes aware of things through sight, hearing, touch, taste, or smell
2. The ability to become conscious of external objects or conditions by means of the senses
3. Awareness of something gained through sensory experience or the mental capacity to receive such awareness

Etymology: Latin "percipere" combined "per-" (thoroughly) with "capere" (to take), so its original sense was to seize or gather up completely. Its noun "perceptio" carried that physical meaning of gathering or collecting. The mental sense of grasping things through the senses and the mind was developed by Roman philosophers, most notably Cicero, who used the term for how the mind takes hold of impressions. Middle English borrowed the word from Old French "perception," and the "-cioun" ending is the Anglo-French spelling pattern seen in many words of that period. Medieval writers used it mainly in the philosophical sense of the mind's understanding, so the older idea of physical gathering had already faded from ordinary use.