# install

> English word · Verb · IPA /ɪnˈstɔːl/ · frequency rank #5,695

## Definitions
1. To connect, set up or prepare something for use
2. To connect, set up or prepare something for use
3. To admit formally into an office, rank or position.
4. To establish or settle in.

## Etymology
From Middle English installen, from Old French installer, from Medieval Latin īnstallō (“to install, put in place, establish”), from in- + stallum (“stall”), from Frankish *stall (“stall, position, place”), from Proto-Germanic *stallaz (“place, position”), from Proto-Indo-European *stel-, *stAlǝn-, *stAlǝm- (“stem, trunk”). Cognate with Old High German stal (“location, stall”), Old English steall (“position, stall”), Old English onstellan (“to institute, create, originate, establish, give the example of”), Middle High German anstalt (“institute”), German anstellen (“to conduct, employ”), German einstellen (“to set, adjust, position”), Dutch aanstellen (“to appoint, commission, institute”), Dutch instellen (“to set up, establish”). More at in, stall.

## Easily confused with
- **instant** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/install-vs-instant)
- **instill** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/install-vs-instill)
- **installed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/install-vs-installed)
- **installer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/install-vs-installer)

## Common misspellings (9)
`innstall`, `insatll`, `insstall`, `instal`, `instlal`, `insttall`, `intsall`, `isntall`, `nistall`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/install