buoyant

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Spanish boyante,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the present participle of boyar (“to float”),^[6][4][7] which the American Heritage Dictionary glosses "to refloat a boat",^[3] from boya (“buoy”).^[3][6][4] The OED, the Shorter Oxford, Hoad and the Oxford Dictionary of English also allow Old French bouyant as the source,^{[7][8][9][10]} and the OED notes that in English the adjective is apparently older than the verb buoy.^[7] The Spanish noun is traced to Old French boue by the American Heritage Dictionary,^[3] and to Middle Dutch boeye by Etymonline;^[6] Collins calls it ultimately of Germanic origin.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Able to float, tending to float: 1578, in William Bourne's Treasure for Traueilers.^[7][2] Etymonline dates it to the 1570s, and Dictionary.com to 1570–80.^[6][11]

Semantic evolution

From the physical sense the word was used figuratively, of things tending to rise or keep up, from about 1661.^[7] In 1692, in Dryden, it was used of a liquid able to keep bodies afloat,^[7] and Johnson (1755) defined it as floating, light, or not sinking, quoting Dryden and Thomson's "buoyant spirit".^[12] Thomson's use, recorded before 1748, is the first of the sense "light-hearted, cheerful", said of the spirits and then of people.^[7][6] In the 19th century it was also used for "lightly elastic" (1835),^[7] and the Oxford dictionaries now give a sense for an economy or market that is busy and successful.^[10][13] In American slang it has been used for "drunk".^[14]

Timeline

• 1578 – able to float, floating.^[7][2]
• c. 1661 – figuratively, tending to rise or keep up.^[7]
• 1692 – of a liquid, able to keep bodies afloat.^[7]
• before 1748 – of the spirits, light, easily recovering; of people, cheerful.^[7][6]
• 1835 – lightly elastic.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Able to float in a liquid or rise in a gas: A life jacket keeps a swimmer buoyant.^[2][4][10]
2. Of a liquid or gas: able to keep something afloat or make it rise; producing buoyancy.^[2][4][10]
3. Cheerful and optimistic; quick to recover from setbacks: in a buoyant mood.^{[2][4][10][3]}
4. Of an economy or market: active and successful: Sales of new homes stayed buoyant.^[10][13]

Word family

• buoyantly
• nonbuoyant
• unbuoyant

Related words

• buoyancy
• buoy

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
5. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d e f Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com