constriction

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English constriccioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Late Latin cōnstrictiō (“a binding or drawing together”),^[4][5][6][2] the noun of action from the past participle stem of cōnstringō (“to bind together, tie tightly”),^[2][7][4] formed from com- (“with, together”) and stringō (“to draw tight”).^[2] Etymonline traces the Latin verb, under strain, to Proto-Indo-European *streig- (“to stroke, rub, press”).^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged allows either Latin or French as the immediate source,^[8] while the OED derives it from Latin and notes that Littré finds the word in French only in Paré, in the 16th century.^[7] The verb constrict is recorded later than the noun, in the 18th century according to Hoad.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The drawing together or tightening of a part of the body: about 1400, in Lanfranc's Cirurgie.^[7][2] The Middle English Dictionary quotes that text on the narrowing and widening of an artery, where the word renders the Latin form.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle English Dictionary's quotations, which are medical or describe a cure, it is used of difficulty in breathing, of constipation (1451, in Capgrave), and of the binding property of a medicine.^[3] From the 17th century it could also name what does the confining, "that which constricts": the OED has this from 1650, Etymonline from the 1640s.^[7][2] Johnson (1755) gave only "contraction; compression", and in his 1773 revision he separated it from compression: compression comes from an outside force and constriction from some quality, so that a throat is compressed by a bandage and constringed by a cold.^[9] The sense of a feeling of tightness in the body is recorded from 1783, in a letter of Johnson's,^[7] and the concrete sense of a narrowed part from 1826.^[7] Hoad likewise dates the sense "constricted part" to the 19th century.^[4] A figurative sense followed, for narrowness or inhibition in emotional or intellectual life,^[8] and genetics took the word for a narrow region of a chromosome.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – compression, a drawing together as if by encircling pressure, in Lanfranc's Cirurgie.^[7][2][3]
• 1451 – constipation, in Capgrave's life of St Gilbert.^[3]
• 1650 – something that constricts or confines.^[7] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1640s.^[2]
• 1771 – a spasmodic shrinking of part of the body (now obsolete).^[7]
• 1783 – a morbid tightness, or the feeling of it.^[7]
• 1826 – a constricted part, a part markedly narrowed.^[7][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of constricting or compressing something, or the state of being constricted.^[10][8][7]
2. A narrowing of a channel in the body, such as a blood vessel, that hinders passage through it.^[8]
3. A feeling of tightness in part of the body, such as the chest or throat.^[10][8][7]
4. A part that is narrowed or compressed: a constriction in the canal.^[10][8][7]
5. Something that confines, blocks or hinders.^[8][7]
6. Narrowness or inhibition in emotional or intellectual activity.^[8]
7. (phonetics) The bringing of one organ of speech close enough to another to produce audible friction.^[8]
8. (genetics) A narrow region of a chromosome, especially at the centromere.^[10]

Word family

• vasoconstriction

Related words

• constrict
• constraint
• constrain
• restriction
• constringe
• strain
• constrictor

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e 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)
4. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins