Word Origin Middle English (formerly also as ingine): from Old French engin, from Latin ingenium ‘talent, device’, from in- ‘in’ + gignere ‘beget’; compare with ingenious. The original sense was ‘ingenuity, cunning’ (surviving in Scots as ingine), hence ‘the product of ingenuity, a plot or snare’, also ‘tool, weapon’, later specifically denoting a large mechanical weapon; whence a machine (mid 17th century), used commonly later in combinations such as steam engine, internal combustion engine.
