adhesive

Etymology

It is borrowed from French adhésif (“sticky”), recorded in Middle French from 1478,^[2][3][4][5] and directly borrowed from Medieval Latin adhaesīvus (“adhering, sticky”), recorded from the 12th or 13th century,^[2][6] formed from the past participle stem of Latin adhaereō (“to stick to”), and -īvus, the source of -ive.^[2][3][6][4] The Latin verb is from ad- (“to”) and haereō (“to stick”),^[3] the source of adhere and of hesitate.^[3] The Shorter Oxford and Dictionary.com take it instead as formed within English, from adhesion and -ive,^[7][8] as Johnson had in 1755.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Having the property of sticking to something: 1661, in K. Digby's Discourse on the vegetation of plants.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In 1663 the adjective was also used figuratively, of steadfast attachment to a person or cause, hence clinging or persistent,^[2] the sense the Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford give as the first.^[5][7] Johnson defined it in 1755 as "sticking; tenacious".^[9] The noun began in medicine as short for adhesive plaster (1753; in the modern sense of a sticking plaster from 1835),^[2] after French emplâtre adhésif.^[2] As a substance for sticking things together, such as glue, it dates from 1849,^[2][6] and philatelists from 1854 called a gummed stamp an adhesive, short for adhesive stamp (1840).^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1661 – sticky, able to stick to something.^[2][6]
• 1663 – steadfastly attached; tenacious, persistent.^[2]
• 1753 – noun, adhesive plaster.^[2]
• 1840 – adhesive stamp.^[3]
• 1849 – noun, a substance used to stick things together.^[2][6]
• 1854 – noun, a gummed postage stamp.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Able or made to stick to a surface; sticky: adhesive labels.^[10][6][11]
2. Clinging or tenacious; hard to shake off: an adhesive rumour.^[10][11][6]

Noun

1. A substance that sticks things together, such as glue, paste or cement.^{[10][6][11][2]}
2. Adhesive tape or a sticking plaster.^[6][2]
3. A gummed postage stamp.^[6][2]

Word family

• adhesively
• adhesiveness
• nonadhesive
• unadhesive
• self-adhesive
• adhesive tape
• adhesive bandage

Related words

• adhere
• adherence
• adherent
• adhesion
• cohesive
• hesitate

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt