Etymologically
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aquatic

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /əˈkwæ.tɪk/, /əˈkwɒ.tɪk/[1]
  • US: /əˈkwɑ.tɪk/, /əˈkwæ.tɪk/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English aquatyque,[2] borrowed from Middle French aquatique,[3][4][5][6] and directly Latin aquāticus (“watery; living in water”),[5][3][2][7] from aqua (“water”),[6][8][9] from Proto-Indo-European *akwa- (“water”).[6][8] The Old French word is recorded from the 13th century,[6] and Etymonline glosses the Latin adjective as "growing in water; bringing rain".[6] Barnhart and Klein relate the Latin noun to Gothic 𐌰𐍈𐌰 (ahwa, “river”), Old High German aha, Old Frisian ā and Old English ēa (“river, flowing water”).[5][9] It is related to aquarium and aqueduct.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Watery, rainy: 1490, in Caxton's translation of the Eneydos,[3][5] a sense obsolete by the late 17th century.[3][11][12]

Semantic evolution

The first English sense, "of water as a substance, watery or rainy", lasted from 1490 to the late 17th century.[3][11] From 1642 the word described plants and animals that live or grow in or near water,[3][6] and since 1866 pastimes in or on the water.[3][11] As a noun it named an aquatic plant or animal from about 1600,[3][4] and, rarely, a person who drinks only water, in Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography;[3] the plural aquatics, water sports, is recorded from 1865.[3][4]

Timeline

  • 1490 – watery, rainy (obsolete by 1686).[3][5]
  • c. 1600 – noun, an aquatic plant or animal.[3][4]
  • 1642 – of plants and animals, living or growing in or near water.[3]
  • 1865 – aquatics, water sports.[3]
  • 1866 – of pastimes, done in or on the water.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Living or growing in or on water: aquatic plants such as water lilies.[13][4][3]
  2. Of sports: performed in or on water.[13][4][3]
  3. Of or relating to water.[4]
  4. (obsolete, 1490–1686) Watery; rainy.[3][11]

Noun

  1. An aquatic animal or plant.[13][4]
  2. aquatics: water sports.[4][3]

Word family

  • aquatically
  • nonaquatic
  • subaquatic
  • semiaquatic
  • pseudoaquatic
  • aquarium
  • aqueduct
  • aqueous
  • aqua

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins