blend

Pronunciation

• IPA: /blend/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Norse blanda (“to mix”), together with Old English blondan (“to mix”), blandan,^[2][3][4][5] cognate with Old High German blantan and Gothic 𐌱𐌻𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌽 (blandan).^[2][3][4] Its e may come from confusion with Middle English blenden (“to blind”) (see blind).^[2][4] Etymonline traces it, through a notion of making cloudy, to a root meaning to shine or flash.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To mix so that the parts cannot be told apart: before 1325, in Cursor Mundi;^[2] about 1300 in Etymonline, chiefly in northern writers.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The noun, a mixture formed by blending, is from 1860 in Etymonline, 1883 in Barnhart.^[3][2] A word made from parts of two others, as smog from smoke and fog, is also a blend in linguistics.^[6]

Timeline

• before 1325 – to mix.^[2]
• 1860 – a blend (noun).^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To mix things together thoroughly.
2. To mix varieties of tea, whisky or tobacco to get a particular flavour.
3. To go well together; to harmonize, often with in.

Noun

1. A mixture of different things or varieties.
2. (linguistics) A word formed from parts of two words, as smog.

Word family

• loanblend
• blender
• interblend
• reblend

Related words

• blind
• blond
• bland

Usage notes

An obsolete blend, to make blind or dazzle, goes back to Old English blendan.^[7][5]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press