box

English has three words spelled box: the evergreen shrub, from Latin buxus; the container, from Late Latin buxis, as if first made of the wood of that shrub; and the blow, with the verb “to fight with the fists”, of unknown origin.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /bɒks/, US /bɑːks/^[4]

box¹ evergreen shrub

Etymology

The shrub is inherited from Middle English box, inherited from Old English box,^[1][3] borrowed from Latin buxus (“box tree”),^[1][2][5] from Ancient Greek πύξος (púxos, “box tree”),^[1][6][7] of unknown origin.^[1] Klein suggests a loanword of Thraco-Phrygian origin,^[6] and Etymonline reports Beekes's suggestion of a loan from Italy, where the tree is native.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English box, the tree: before 800, in an early glossary,^[1] or 931 in the OED.^[9] The wood of the tree, boxwood, is from about 1385.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The hard pale wood was much used by turners and wood-engravers,^[9] and box was used as an adjective, “of boxwood; pale as box”, from 1382.^[9] With a distinguishing word it names several other plants, such as bastard box, from 1578.^[9]

Timeline

• before 800 – the box tree.^[1]
• 1382 – of boxwood.^[9]
• c. 1385 – boxwood.^[9]
• 1578 – other plants called box.^[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A small evergreen shrub or tree of the genus Buxus, often used for hedges.
2. The hard wood of this tree; boxwood.

Word family

• boxwood

box² container

Etymology

The container is inherited from Middle English box, inherited from Old English box,^[1][2] probably borrowed from Late Latin buxis,^[1][5][7] a variant of pyxis (“box of boxwood”),^[5][1] from Ancient Greek πυξίς (puxís, “box”),^[1][2] from πύξος (púxos, “box tree”),^[2][3] as if it were first made of the wood of the box¹ tree.^[1][10] Greek puxís also gave pyx.^[11] Dutch bus and German Büchse (“box; gun barrel”) are also Latin loans.^[8] The verb is from the noun.^[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English box, a container: before 1000, in the works of Ælfric.^[1][9] Barnhart dates the sense “a jar” to about 1150.^[1]

Semantic evolution

From 1700 box was gradually extended to larger cases for merchandise.^[9] A compartment at the theatre is from about 1600,^[8] and box seat in this sense by 1850.^[8] A pigeon-hole at a post office is from 1832.^[8] In Australia and New Zealand a box is a mixing up of different flocks of sheep, from 1872.^[9] The batter's station in baseball is from 1881,^[8] and a space enclosed by lines in graphics from 1929.^[8] A gramophone was the box from 1924 and a television from 1950.^[8] Boxing Day was the day when well-off households gave presents, called Christmas boxes, to tradespeople and employees; the money was collected in an earthenware box broken open afterwards.^[11] The verb “to put into a box” is from the mid-15th century.^[8][1]

Timeline

• before 1000 – a container.^[1][9]
• c. 1450 – verb, to put in a box.^[1]
• c. 1600 – a theatre box.^[8]
• 1832 – a post-office box.^[8]
• 1881 – the batter's box.^[8]
• 1924 – a gramophone.^[8]
• 1950 – a television.^[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A container, usually with flat sides and a lid.
2. The amount a box holds.
3. A separate compartment, as in a theatre or a courtroom.
4. An area marked out by lines, on a page or a sports field.
5. (informal) A television: the box.

Verb

1. To put into a box.
2. To confine: boxed in.

Word family

• boxful
• boxy
• boxcar
• mailbox
• postbox
• jukebox
• Boxing Day
• box office

box³ blow; to fight

Etymology

The blow is inherited from Middle English box, of unknown origin.^{[1][5][7][10]} It is often compared with Middle Dutch boke, Middle High German buc and Danish bask, all meaning “a blow”, though Barnhart finds no evidence of a link,^[1][8] and it may be imitative or from some sense of box².^[8][1] The verb is from the noun.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A blow: probably about 1300, in Sir Bevis of Hamtoun.^[1][8]

Semantic evolution

The noun is older than the verb.^[8] The verb meant “to beat an animal” in 1390^[1] and “to beat, strike” in the late 14th century,^[8] and “to strike with the fist” from 1519.^[1][12] “To fight with the fists” is from the 1560s^[8] or 1567.^[1] Boxer is from 1472,^[1] but the noun boxing, the sport, only from 1711, as boxing had died out in ancient Rome and was popularized again in the early 18th century by James Figg.^[1] The noun now usually means a slap on the ear.^[7][5]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – a blow.^[1]
• 1390 – verb, to beat.^[1]
• 1472 – boxer.^[1]
• 1519 – to strike with the fist.^[1]
• 1567 – to fight with the fists.^[1]
• 1711 – boxing, the sport.^[1]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To fight with the fists, especially in the sport of boxing.
2. To hit with the hand: box someone's ears.

Noun

1. A blow with the hand, especially on the ear.

Word family

• boxer
• boxing
• kickboxing

Related words

• pyx
• buxom

Usage notes

To box the compass, to name the points of the compass in order, or to turn right round, is a nautical phrase, probably from Spanish bojar “to sail round”, from 1713 in Merriam-Webster.^[12][7][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster