concezione

Concezione is an Italian noun used to denote the act of conceiving or forming an idea, the notion or concept that results from this process, and more broadly a framework or worldview through which something is understood. It also refers to the content of a concept, such as the concezione di tempo or concezione della realtà. In philosophy, theology, and the humanities, concezione commonly qualifies a given theory or approach (for example, una concezione scientifica, una concezione etica). In everyday language it is interchangeable with concetto in many contexts, though concezione often emphasizes the act or process of forming a concept rather than the concept itself.

In biology, the term can denote the moment of conception, i.e., the fertilization event that marks the start of pregnancy; in this sense more precise terms like concetto or concetto di concepimento are frequently used, but concezione appears in some medical and legal writings.

Etymology: concezione derives from Latin conceptio, from concipere 'to conceive' (com- 'together' + capere 'to take'), via Old French or directly into Italian. The word entered Italian in medieval Latin and evolved to denote both mental and literal acts of conceiving.

See also: conception, concept, notion, worldview, ideologia.