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colloid

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Etymology and origin of the English word colloid

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1847–1849 More words from the 19th century
Borrowed from
French colloïde
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek κόλλα

Pronunciation

  • /ˈkɒlɔɪd/[1]

Etymology

Barnhart and Etymonline take it as borrowed from French colloïde (1845),[2][3] which is formed from Ancient Greek κόλλα (kólla, “glue”)[2][3][4] and the suffix -oid.[2][3][5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged calls it an international scientific formation, probably first made in French,[5] while the OED and the Shorter Oxford derive it directly from the Greek noun and ending, without mentioning French.[4][6] The Greek word is of uncertain origin,[3] perhaps Pre-Greek.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A jelly-like substance: Barnhart finds the adjective in 1847–49 and the noun in 1849–52, in an edition of an anatomy text.[2] The OED's first records for both are from Todd's Cyclopædia of Anatomy & Physiology (1849–52), used in pathology of a gelatinous substance.[4] Etymonline dates the noun to 1854,[3] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged to about 1852.[5]

Semantic evolution

The word began in medicine, for the jelly-like matter found in diseased tissue and normally in the thyroid gland.[4][6] In 1861 T. Graham gave it a chemical use, for a state of matter he opposed to crystalloid, and colloidal is recorded from the same year.[4][2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged still defines substances such as gelatin, albumin and starch by their slow or absent passage through a membrane,[5] a sense that Collins labels obsolete.[7] The modern definition rests on particle size: tiny particles spread through a continuous phase, giving a mixture between a solution and a fine suspension.[7][2]

Timeline

  • 1847–49 – adjective, jelly-like.[2]
  • 1849–52 – noun, a jelly-like substance in pathology.[4][2] Etymonline has the noun from 1854.[3]
  • 1861 – in chemistry, as opposed to a crystalloid, in Graham.[4]
  • 1879 – in mineralogy, one of the forms in which minerals occur.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A mixture in which very fine particles of one substance stay suspended in another, with properties between those of a solution and a fine suspension.[7][2][5]
  2. The suspended substance in such a mixture.[7][5]
  3. (physiology) A gelatinous substance, as in the follicles of the thyroid gland.[7][4][6]
  4. (obsolete) A substance that passes slowly or not at all through a membrane, such as gelatin or starch; the opposite of a crystalloid.[7][5][4]

Adjective

  1. Colloidal.[5][6][4]
  2. (pathology) Of a jelly-like nature or appearance.[4][6]

Verb

  1. To convert cellulose nitrate in smokeless powder into a colloidal state.[5]

Word family

  • colloidal
  • colloidally

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Colloid.” Etymologically, 5 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/colloid. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026.

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