Etymologically
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capsule

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈkæpsjuːl/[1]
  • US: /ˈkæps(ə)l/[1]

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
  • 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