aquifer

Etymology

The OED, Etymonline and the Oxford Dictionary of English form it from Latin aqui- (“water”) + -fer (“bearing”),^[2][3][4] Merriam-Webster takes it as a borrowing of French aquifère (“water-bearing”),^[5] and Dictionary.com as probably from the French adjective.^[6] Aqui- is the combining form of aqua (“water”),^[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *akwa- (“water”),^[3] and -fer is from ferō (“to bear, carry”),^[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *bher- (“to carry”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A water-bearing layer of rock: 1897, in W. H. Norton's report in the Iowa Geological Survey.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its single geological sense since 1897.^[2][5] It belongs with the older adjective aquiferous, water-bearing.^[2] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English date it to the early 20th century, and Dictionary.com to 1900–05.^[7][4][6]

Timeline

• 1897 – a water-bearing stratum of rock.^[2][3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A layer of permeable rock, sand or gravel that holds water and can supply it to wells or springs: The town draws its drinking water from a sandstone aquifer.^[5][8][2]

Word family

• aquiferous

Related words

• aqueous
• aqueduct
• conifer

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster records the less common spelling aquafer.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins