Etymologically
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blade

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bleɪd/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English blad, inherited from Old English blæd (“leaf; a leaf-like part”),[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *bladą,[3][5] source also of Old Frisian bled, Dutch blad, German Blatt (“leaf”) and Old Norse blað,[3][6] from PIE *bʰle-to-, a past participle of Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to thrive, bloom”),[3] related to blow, to blossom.[4][5] The modern form comes from the Old English oblique cases.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The leaf of a plant: before 1000 in the OED, about 725 in Barnhart.[7][2]

Semantic evolution

In Old English it also meant the flat part of an oar or spade.[8][3] In Middle English it was extended to the shoulder blade (about 1300) and to the cutting part of knives and swords (early 14th century),[3][2] and soon after came to mean a sword itself.[8] The leaves of grass are from about 1450, perhaps by influence of Old French bled, corn.[7][3] A gallant or dashing young man is from the 1590s.[3] The blade of a propeller is early 20th-century.[8] In Wiltshire and Somerset dialect a blade was the shaft of a cart.[9]

Timeline

  • before 1000 – a leaf.[7]
  • c. 1300 – shoulder blade.[2][3]
  • early 14th century – the cutting part of a knife.[3]
  • c. 1450 – a blade of grass.[7]
  • 1590s – a dashing young man.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The flat cutting edge of a knife, sword or tool.
  2. The flat, wide part of an oar, propeller or fan.
  3. A long, narrow leaf of grass or a similar plant.
  4. (literary) A sword.
  5. (archaic) A dashing or jaunty young man.
  6. The runner of an ice skate.

Word family

  • bladed
  • bladelike
  • blader
  • bladeless
  • bladebone
  • multiblade
  • bladelet
  • microblade
  • blow
  • bloom
  • blossom
  • folio
  • foliage

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ 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)