concentric

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English concentrik, in Chaucer consentrik,^[2][3][4] partly borrowed from Middle French concentrique (“having a common centre”),^[5][6][7] a word recorded in French from the late 14th century,^[5] and partly borrowed from Medieval Latin concentricus,^{[5][8][9][6][2]} recorded from the 13th century in British and continental sources.^[5] Etymonline and Barnhart call the French word Old French.^[10][11] The Latin adjective is formed from com- (“with, together”), centrum (“circle, centre”) and -icus,^[5][10][9] and centrum is from Ancient Greek κέντρον (kéntron, “sharp point; centre of a circle”).^[8][10] The OED compares Hellenistic Greek κεντρικός (kentrikós, “centric”), and the Romance adjectives Spanish concéntrico (about 1527) and Italian concentrico (before 1519).^[5] The noun follows Medieval Latin concentricus, a concentric circle, short for circulus concentricus.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of geometric figures, having a common centre: about 1400, in a manuscript of Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe (written 1391).^[5][11] Chaucer uses it three times, always in the form consentrik, and the Middle English Dictionary treats it as an adverb, in concentric or parallel fashion.^[3][12]

Semantic evolution

The word began in astronomy and geometry, for circles and spheres arranged about the same centre.^[5][11] A noun, a concentric circle or figure, followed in 1551, in Robert Recorde's Pathway to Knowledge,^[5] and figurative uses of emotions and actions in 1603, in Samuel Daniel.^[5] From the 18th century the sciences took it up: mineralogists and geologists for ring-like layers about a centre (1728), zoologists for the growth of a mollusc's operculum (1835), physiologists for a kind of muscle contraction (1858) and botanists for a vascular bundle in which one tissue surrounds the other (1878).^[5] A rare chemical use for "concentrated" (1772) was modelled on concentrated, and military writers spoke of concentric fire aimed at one point (1804).^[5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged contrasts it with eccentric.^[9][13]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – of figures, having a common centre, in Chaucer.^[5][11]
• 1551 – noun, a concentric circle or figure.^[5]
• 1603 – figuratively, of emotions or actions.^[5]
• 1728 – in geology and mineralogy, arranged in ring-like layers about a centre.^[5]
• 1772 – in chemistry, concentrated (rare).^[5]
• 1804 – of weapon fire, concentrated on one point.^[5]
• 1835 – in zoology, of a mollusc's operculum.^[5]
• 1858 – in physiology, of concentric contraction of a muscle.^[5]
• 1878 – in botany, of a vascular bundle.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having a common centre, as circles drawn one inside another: The stone sent concentric ripples across the pond.^[13][9][5]
2. Having a common axis; coaxial.^[9][5]
3. (geology) Arranged in ring-like layers around a common centre; of weathering, marked by the peeling away of successive rounded shells.^[5][9]
4. (botany) Of a vascular bundle, having the xylem surrounding the phloem, or the reverse.^[5][9]
5. (military) Of weapon fire, concentrated on one point.^[5]

Noun

1. Something that has a common centre with something else, such as one of two concentric circles.^[9][5]

Word family

• concentrically
• concentricity
• nonconcentric

Related words

• centre
• center
• eccentric
• concentrate
• centric

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
3. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
4. ^ Stratmann, Francis Henry (1891), A Middle-English Dictionary, revised by Henry Bradley, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins