agility

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English agilite,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Middle French agilité and directly borrowed from Latin agilitās (“ease of movement, nimbleness”),^[5][6][7][8] formed from agilis (“nimble, quick”) and the suffix -tās.^[5][4] Merriam-Webster gives the intermediate as Anglo-Norman agilitee.^[4] The adjective comes from agō (“to set in motion, drive”), from Proto-Indo-European *ag- (“to drive, draw out, move”).^[7] The French word is recorded in the theological sense from before 1358, in general use from about 1370, and earlier of the lightness of air (about 1327).^[5] The OED compares Spanish agilidad and Italian agilità.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In theology, the power of the glorified human body to move instantly from place to place, one of its four endowments: before 1425, in Wyclif's Select English Works.^[5][2] This sense is last recorded in 1624.^[5] Etymonline dates the word to the early 15th century, in the sense "nimbleness, quickness".^[7]

Semantic evolution

The theological sense came from post-classical Latin, which used the word so from the 13th century.^[5] Of the mind, "quick-wittedness", is recorded from about 1450,^[5][7] and of the body, "nimbleness, dexterity", from about 1475, although the MED already has bodily swiftness among its senses.^[5][2] Johnson (1755) defined it as nimbleness and readiness to move.^[9] In the 20th century business writing took it up for a company's ability to respond quickly to customers and markets, from 1969 in the Financial Times.^[5] In 19th-century British slang agility was a euphemism for the vagina.^[10]

Timeline

• before 1425 – in theology, the ability of the glorified body to move instantly (obsolete by 1624).^[5]
• c. 1450 – quickness of mind.^[5][7]
• c. 1475 – nimbleness of body.^[5]
• 1846 – in slang, a euphemism for the vagina.^[10]
• 1969 – in business, adaptability to customers and markets.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The ability to move quickly and easily; nimbleness: the agility of a goat on a cliff.^[5][4][6]
2. Quickness and resourcefulness of mind: her agility in argument.^[5][4]
3. (business) The ability to change quickly in response to customers and the market; adaptability.^[5]

Related words

• agile
• act
• agent
• agitate

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ 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 Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com