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capacitance

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Etymology and origin of the English word capacitance

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1892 More words from the 19th century
Ultimate origins
Middle French capacitéAnglo-Norman -ance
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English capacity
English capacitance
From the same root
English capacitor ← capacity

Pronunciation

  • UK: /kəˈpæsɪt(ə)nts/, /kəˈpæsɪt(ə)ns/[1]
  • US: /kəˈpæsət̬ənts/, /kəˈpæsət̬əns/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English capacity + -ance, with the final -y dropped.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The ratio of the change in an electric charge to the corresponding change in potential, or the ability to store a charge: Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the word to 1892.[5] The OED's first record, from 1893, is in the Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers,[2][3] while Dictionary.com dates it to 1905–10 and Collins to the 20th century.[7][6]

Semantic evolution

Before it, this sense was expressed by capacity, which Etymonline dates in this use from 1777 and Collins lists as the former name.[3][6] The American Heritage Dictionary distinguishes the ratio of charge to potential on an isolated conductor, that between a pair of conductors, the property of a circuit element of storing charge, and the part of a circuit that shows it.[4]

Timeline

  • 1892 – the ability to store an electric charge, or its measure.[5] The OED's first record is from 1893.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The property of a conductor or system of conductors that lets it store an electric charge.[6][4][2]
  2. A measure of this, the ratio of the charge stored to the potential difference; symbol C.[6][4][5]
  3. The part of a circuit that shows this property.[4]

Word family

  • capacitive
  • capacitively

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
Cite this entry

“Capacitance.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/capacitance. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·