Etymologically
Log in

constant

Etymology and origin of the English word constant

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1386
Borrowed from
Old French constant via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin (constare)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈkɒn.stənt/, US /ˈkɑːn.stənt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English constaunt,[2] borrowed from Old French constant and directly borrowed from Latin cōnstāns (“standing firm, stable, steadfast”),[3][2][4] the present participle of cōnstāre “to stand together, stand firm”,[3][2] from con- “with, together” and stāre “to stand”,[3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *sta- (“to stand”).[3] It is related to stand, cost and distant.[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Steadfast, resolute, firm in mind: about 1386–1390 in the OED and Barnhart, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Faithful in attachment to a person or cause is from the early 15th century.[3][6] Of things and conditions, unchanging or invariable, is from the 1540s,[3][6] continual or enduring from the 1650s, and regularly recurring from 1817.[3] In mathematics the adjective is from 1753, and the noun, a quantity that does not vary, from 1832,[3][2] with the general “something that does not change” from 1856.[3] Constancy (1526) replaced Middle English constaunce.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1386 – steadfast, resolute.[6][2]
  • c. 1425 – faithful.[6]
  • 1540s – unchanging.[3]
  • 1650s – continual.[3]
  • 1753 – adjective, in mathematics.[3][2]
  • 1832 – noun, an invariable quantity.[3][2]
  • 1856 – noun, anything that does not change.[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Happening all the time or again and again; continual.
  2. Staying the same; not varying.
  3. (literary) Faithful and loyal.

Noun

  1. Something that does not change.
  2. (mathematics, physics) A quantity with a fixed value, such as the speed of light.

Word family

  • constantly
  • nonconstant
  • unconstant
  • constant of integration
  • Boltzmann constant
  • cosmological constant
  • dielectric constant
  • Michaelis constant

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Constant.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/constant. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·