Other forms: conceptions
A conception is the forming of an idea, or the start of a pregnancy. The original conception, at the moment of conception, a conception of justice.
The two senses are the same metaphor: something begins in the mind as something begins in the body. The idea sense is the commoner in writing — your conception of a thing is how you understand it, and it may differ from mine.
1nounconceptionThe forming of an idea.
“She has been involved in the project from its conception to its launch.”
2nounstartThe start of a pregnancy.
“The baby was born eight months after conception, a few weeks early.”
conception is a beginning.
Latin conceptio comes from concipere, to take in — con, together, plus capere, to take.
Middle English
concepcioun
English, today
conception
Built from
From Middle English concepcioun. From Middle English concepcioun, borrowed from Old French conception, from Latin conceptiō (“a comprehending, a collection, composition, an expression, also a becoming pregnant”), from concipiō, past participle conceptus (“conceive”); see conceive. Equivalent to conceive + tion.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA