capsule

Etymology

It is borrowed from French capsule (“a membranous sac”),^[2][3][4][5] from Latin capsula (“small box or chest”), a diminutive of capsa (“box, case, chest”),^{[2][3][4][6][7]} the source, through Anglo-Norman, of case in the sense "box".^[2][6][3] Etymonline derives the Latin noun from capiō (“to take, hold”).^[2] Klein compares capsicum.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A little case or receptacle, a sense now obsolete: 1652, in Thomas Urquhart's Ekskybalauron.^[4][3][2] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English date the word, in the general sense "small container", to late Middle English.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

The word spread from a general container to the natural cases of the body and of plants: a membranous envelope or sac (1693), and in botany a dry seed vessel that splits open when ripe (1693).^[4] Chemists used it for a shallow dish for roasting or evaporating (1727).^[4] A metal cap for a bottle is recorded from 1858, and the gelatin case that holds a dose of medicine from 1874 in the OED,^[4] 1875 in Barnhart and Etymonline.^[3][2] In microbiology the layer around a bacterial cell was named after German Kapsel (1883).^[4] The pressurized cabin of an aircraft and the detachable nose of a rocket that carries astronauts are recorded from 1954,^[4][2] perhaps from the earlier sense "shell of a metal cartridge" (1864),^[2] though Barnhart's first date for the space capsule is 1958.^[3] The adjective, "brief, condensed", as in a capsule review, arose in American English in 1938,^[4][3][10] and the verb, to fit with or enclose in a capsule, in 1859.^[10][8]

Timeline

• 1652 – a little case or receptacle (obsolete by 1713).^[4][3]
• 1693 – a membranous sac in the body; a seed vessel in botany.^[4]
• 1727 – a shallow dish used in chemistry.^[4]
• 1858 – a metal cap on a bottle.^[4]
• 1859 – verb, to enclose in a capsule.^[10]
• 1874 – a gelatin case holding a dose of medicine.^[4]
• 1938 – adjective, brief, condensed (originally US).^[4][3]
• 1954 – a pressurized compartment; the crew section of a spacecraft.^[4][2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A small soluble case of gelatin holding a dose of medicine: Take one capsule with water after meals.
2. A thin metal cap or seal, such as the foil over the cork of a wine bottle.
3. (botany) A dry fruit that releases its seeds by splitting or through pores; also the spore case of a moss.
4. (anatomy) A membrane or sac enclosing an organ or part, such as the capsule of the kidney.
5. The section of a spacecraft that carries the crew or instruments; a pressurized compartment of an aircraft.
6. A layer around the cell wall of some bacteria.

Adjective

1. Brief and condensed, or small and compact: a capsule history of the town.

Verb

1. To fit with or enclose in a capsule; to condense into a brief form.

Word family

• capsular
• incapsulate
• caplet
• capsulate
• capsulotomy
• encapsule
• microcapsule
• capsulize

Related words

• case
• encapsulate
• capsicum

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster