continual

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English continuel, also continual,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French continuel,^[4][3][5][6] recorded in Old French from the 12th century^[4][3] and in Anglo-Norman from about 1136–65.^[7] The French adjective is formed from Latin continuus (“uninterrupted; joining, following one after another”),^[4][3][8] or, in the Oxford view, from continuer (“to continue”), from continuō, itself from continuus;^[9][5] Etymonline adds that the English word was also taken directly from the Latin adjective.^[3] Continuus comes from contineō (“to hold together”), used intransitively for "to hang together, be uninterrupted".^[3][5][8] Dictionary.com notes that the later spelling follows Medieval Latin continuālis, which replaced the Middle English continuel.^[10] It is related to continue, continuous and contain.^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Always going on, without stopping, or repeated at short intervals: the MED has it before 1325,^[2] and the OED's first record is about 1340, in Richard Rolle's prose treatises.^[4] Etymonline dates it to the early 14th century, with the spelling continuell.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word covered both what never stops and what recurs very often.^[4][3] Chaucer used it five times, as continueel or contynuel.^[11] Several senses later fell away: in law a continual claim was a claim repeated within set intervals so that it would not be taken as abandoned (1528–1848);^[4] a continual disease was a chronic one (about 1425–1751).^[4] From 1570 to 1720 the word was also used of things continuous in space or substance.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as incessant, adding that continual is used of time and continuous of place.^[12] The older sense "regularly recurring at stated times" is now archaic,^[4] and the main senses today are "recurring often" and "going on without a break".^[13][8]

Timeline

• before 1325 – continuous, uninterrupted; recurrent.^[2]
• c. 1340 – always going on, incessant, or repeated very often.^[4]
• c. 1425 – of diseases, chronic (obsolete by 1751).^[4]
• 1462 – of people and things, always in some position or activity (obsolete by 1864).^[4]
• 1528 – in law, a continual claim (obsolete by 1848).^[4]
• c. 1530 – recurring regularly at set intervals.^[4]
• 1570 – continuous in space or substance (obsolete by 1720).^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Happening again and again, often at regular intervals: The project suffered from continual delays.^[13][8][6]
2. Going on without a break; incessant: He lived in continual pain after the accident.^[13][8][6]
3. (obsolete) Continuous in space or substance (1570–1720).^[4][6]

Word family

• continually
• continuality

Related words

• continuance
• continuation
• continue
• continuous
• continuum

Usage notes

Etymonline draws the distinction: what is continual either goes on all the time or recurs at short intervals without coming to an end, while what is continuous has no break between its beginning and its end.^[3] In careful usage continual is kept for repeated actions and continuous for uninterrupted ones, but informal usage often ignores the difference.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt