Etymologically
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coastline

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 15:30. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈkəʊstlaɪn/[1]
  • US: /ˈkoʊstlaɪn/[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from English coast + line.[2][3][4][5] Coast is from Old French coste (“rib, side; slope; shore”), from Latin costa (“a rib”);[3] line goes back to līnea (“linen thread, string”), partly through line and partly through Old French ligne.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The shape or outline of a coast, or the land along it: 1761, in a petition of Alexander, Duke of Gordon.[2]

Semantic evolution

The OED's first record, from 1761, is much earlier than the other dictionaries' dates: Etymonline gives 1819,[2][3] Merriam-Webster 1856[5] and Dictionary.com 1855–60.[4] The OED, which revised the entry in 2023, also records its use for the line that traces a coast on a map.[2] Merriam-Webster distinguishes the boundary line between land and water, a broad zone of land and water on both sides of a shoreline, and the general shape of the land along a coast.[5] Collins adds that the outline is especially as seen from the sea.[6]

Timeline

  • 1761 – the shape or outline of a coast; the land along it.[2]
  • 1819 – first date in Etymonline.[3]
  • 1856 – the boundary between land and sea, in Merriam-Webster.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The line where the land meets the sea or a lake; the shoreline: The storm battered the whole eastern coastline.[5][2]
  2. The shape or outline of a coast, especially as seen from the sea, or as drawn on a map.[6][2][7]
  3. The land next to a coast.[6][2]
  4. A broad zone of land and water reaching both inland and out to sea from the shoreline.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin