Other forms: introduced, introducing, introduces
To introduce two people is to say each one's name to the other so they can start talking. Marta, this is my brother Tom, and after that they are no longer strangers.
You introduce someone TO someone, and you introduce yourself when nobody does it for you. The word does far more than parties, though: a government introduces a law, a company introduces a new model, a teacher introduces a topic, and rabbits were introduced to Australia with famous results. In all of those it means bringing something in for the first time, to a place or an audience that did not have it. The noun introduction covers the handshake and the opening section of a book alike. Say introduce me to her, never introduce me with her.
1verbintroduceTo tell two people each other's names so that they can meet.~9%
“He introduced me to his colleagues one by one.”
2verbbringTo bring something into use, into a place or onto the market for the first time.~77%
“The council introduced a charge for garden waste in April.”
synonyms: bring in, launch
3verbpresentTo present a subject, a speaker or a programme at the start.~14%
“She introduced the evening's speaker with a short story about him.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 22 sentences found in the wild and placed 22 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
Introduce is Latin introduco, to lead inside, taken into English through Old French introduire. The pieces are an old word meaning inner and the root dewk-, to lead, the same root under conduct, produce and duke. Introducing someone is leading them in.
Proto-Indo-European
*dewk-
Proto-Indo-European
*h₁énteros — inner, what is inside
Latin
intrōdūcō
Old French
introduire
Middle English
introducen
English, today
introduce
From Middle English introducen, from Old French introduire, from Latin intrōdūcō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₁énteros (“inner, what is inside”) and dewk-.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA