class

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /klɑːs/, US /klæs/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French classe^[2][3][4] and directly borrowed from Latin classis (“a division of the Roman people; an army, a fleet”).^[5][6][7] The Latin word meant especially one of the six classes into which Servius Tullius divided the Roman people for taxation, and was traditionally the people under arms,^[2] so that it is usually related to calāre (“to call, summon”).^[2][8][9] Watkins derives it from Proto-Indo-European *kelə- (“to shout”),^[2][3] and Barnhart compares Greek κέλαδος (kélados, “noise, clamour”).^[7] It is related to claim, calends, classic and classical.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Each of the divisions of the Roman people: mid-16th century.^[5] Barnhart's first example, in the Latin form classis, is from 1593, “a division according to rank”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

A class of students is found from 1560^[11] or the mid-16th century,^[10] in the French form classe from 1602,^[7] and the spelling class by 1664.^[7] The general sense “kind, category” is from 1583.^[8][11] Etymonline dates a course or lecture to the 1650s, from the idea of instruction reserved for scholars at a given level,^[2] and “an order or rank of persons” to the 1660s.^[2] The biological sense is from 1753,^[2] and a social class with upper, lower and so on from 1763.^[2] The verb “to divide into classes” is from 1705, and “to place in a class” from 1776, in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations.^[7][2] Class as “high quality” is from 1847^[7] or 1874,^[2] and classy from 1891^[7] or about 1870.^[10] Class-consciousness (1903) translates German Klassenbewusstsein.^[2] Classified meant simply “arranged in classes” until the sense “secret” appeared in the 1940s.^[10]

Timeline

• mid-16th century – a division of the Roman people.^[5]
• 1560 – a group of students.^[11]
• 1583 – a kind, category.^[8]
• 1602 – classe, a group of students.^[7]
• 1660s – a rank of persons.^[2]
• 1705 – verb, to divide into classes.^[7]
• 1753 – in biology.^[2]
• 1763 – a social class.^[2]
• 1847 – high quality.^[7]
• 1903 – class-consciousness.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A group of things that share certain features; a kind or category.
2. A division by quality or grade: first class.
3. A social class whose members share economic and social status.
4. A group of students taught together, or a meeting of such a group.
5. (biology) A taxonomic rank above an order and below a phylum.
6. (informal) Elegance, excellence.

Verb

1. To assign to a class; to classify.

Word family

• classable
• classer
• outclass
• subclass

Related words

• class action
• class struggle
• class act
• classify
• classless
• classroom
• classy
• classic
• classical
• claim
• calends

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
4. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)