alter

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɒl.tə/, /ˈɔːl.tə/ (UK); /ˈɔl.təɹ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English alteren, borrowed from Old French altérer (“to change”),^[2][3][4] from Medieval and Late Latin alterāre, to change, from Latin alter (“the other of two”),^[2][3][5] which is from Proto-Indo-European *al-, beyond (as in else and alias), with the contrastive suffix -ter, as in other and whether.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make something different in some respect: about 1374 in the OED, about 1385 in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde in Barnhart.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

To disturb someone mentally (1542) is obsolete.^[6] The intransitive sense, to become otherwise, is recorded by the 1580s (1590 in the OED).^[3][6] To geld or spay an animal is from 1821, in the United States and Australia,^[6] and to adjust a garment for a better fit is a later sense.^[7] Alteration is from before 1398.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – to change something.^[6]
• before 1398 – alteration.^[2]
• 1542 – to disturb mentally.^[6]
• 1590 – to become different.^[6]
• 1821 – to geld or spay.^[6]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To change or make different; to modify.
2. To become different.
3. To adjust a garment so that it fits better.
4. (chiefly US, euphemistic) To castrate or spay an animal.

Word family

• alterability
• alterable
• alterably
• alterer
• unaltering
• prealter
• realter
• alterative

Related words

• alteration
• alternate
• alternative
• alterant
• altruism
• alias
• else
• other

Usage notes

In Berkshire and Somerset dialect, to alter meant to change for the better, to improve in health or condition.^[8] Alter as a noun, the other person in a social interaction, is a term of psychology from 1897.^[6][9]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press