cordial

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cordial,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Medieval Latin cordiālis (“of or for the heart”),^[5][6][7][3] partly also borrowed from Middle French cordial.^[8][9] The Medieval Latin adjective meant "stimulating" of medicine from the 12th century, and later "of the heart" and "heartfelt"; its neuter cordiale was a medicinal drink.^[8] It is formed from cor (“heart”) and -ālis,^[8][6][9] from Proto-Indo-European *kerd- (“heart”), the source of heart.^[6][5][10] In French the adjective is recorded from 1314 in medicine, and the noun, a drink that strengthens the heart, from 1495;^[8] the Anglo-Norman adjective meant "sincere" in 1409–10.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Noun, a medicine, food or drink that strengthens the heart: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (c. 1387–95), "For gold in phisik is a cordial".^[2][8][12] Barnhart dates it to about 1386.^[9] The adjective, of the heart, is recorded before 1400.^[2][9][6]

Semantic evolution

The word began in medicine, and Weekley notes that its earliest English use is medical.^[12] Since the heart was thought the seat of the feelings, the adjective soon came to mean "heartfelt, sincere", from the mid-15th century, first in 1459.^[6][8] From 1577 it also meant "warm and friendly in manner",^[8] now often merely courteous.^[8] The sense "of the heart" was obsolete by the 19th century, replaced by cardiac.^[6][8][13] The noun, a restorative drink, was used of a sweet aromatic liquor from the 1610s,^[6] and in Britain from 1861 of a sweet fruit-flavoured drink diluted with water.^[8] Johnson (1755) gave "reviving, invigorating" as the adjective's first sense, and "sincere, hearty" second.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1387–95 – noun, a drink or medicine that strengthens the heart, in Chaucer.^[2][8]
• before 1400 – adjective, of the heart (obsolete by 1841).^[2][9][8]
• before 1425 – of a medicine or drink, invigorating the heart.^[8][2]
• 1459 – heartfelt, sincere.^[8][9]
• 1577 – warm and friendly in manner.^[8]
• 1610s – a sweet aromatic liquor.^[6]
• 1861 – in Britain, a fruit-flavoured drink diluted with water.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Warm and friendly; hearty: a cordial welcome.^[15][3][8]
2. Sincere or heartfelt: a cordial dislike of flattery.^[8][13]
3. (rare) Stimulating or reviving.^[15][8]
4. (obsolete, 1450–1841) Of the heart.^[8][13]

Noun

1. (British) A sweet fruit-flavoured drink, sold as a concentrate and diluted with water: elderflower cordial.^[15][3][8]
2. (US) A sweet alcoholic drink; a liqueur.^[3][15]
3. A stimulating medicine, food or drink.^[3][8]

Word family

• cordiality
• cordially
• cordialness
• supercordial
• uncordial

Related words

• cardiac
• courage
• accord
• concord
• discord
• record
• misericord

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins