acme

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈæk.mi/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀκμή (akmḗ, “point, highest point, edge”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} which is related to Greek akḗ “point”.^[3] Etymonline traces it to the Proto-Indo-European root *ak- “be sharp, rise to a point”.^[4][2] In English it was printed in Greek letters until about 1620.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The highest point or culmination in the development of anything (1570).^[7][4]

Semantic evolution

Greek akmē also meant the prime of life,^[4] and early English writers used the word for full bloom or maturity (1620) and for the crisis of a disease (about 1630),^[7] senses now obsolete or archaic.^[7] The general sense of a peak or perfection has always been the main one.^[2][5][6]

Timeline

• 1560s–1570 – the highest point of anything.^[4][7]
• about 1620 – the word stops being written in Greek letters.^[4][3][5]
• 1620 – the period of full growth, now obsolete.^[7]
• about 1630 – the crisis of a disease, now archaic.^[7]
• 1895 – Acme screw thread, a modified square thread.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The highest point or stage of something; the peak or summit.
2. Someone or something that represents perfection of its kind.

Related words

• acne
• acute
• acrid

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press