corporeal

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin corporeus (“of the nature of a body, bodily”),^[2][3][4] with the English suffix -al added.^[2][5][6] The Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford instead take it from Late Latin corporealis, itself from the classical adjective.^[7][8] The adjective is formed from corpus (“body”),^[2][3][9] from Proto-Indo-European *kwrep- (“body, form, appearance”).^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the body, physical, material: Barnhart finds it probably before 1425, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon,^[5] and the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English date the sense "material" to late Middle English.^[8][7] Merriam-Webster gives the 15th century.^[9] The OED and Etymonline begin the record in 1610.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The OED's first quotation, from 1610 in J. Healey's translation of Vives, sets the animal body against the spirit,^[2] and before 1620, in Fotherby's Atheomastix, it also meant "of the nature of matter".^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "having a body; not immaterial", quoting Milton on corporeal substances.^[10] Law took it up for what is tangible: from about 1670, in Hobbes, it describes property consisting of material objects, as in corporeal hereditament.^[2][8] Blackstone used it in 1765 for something that affects the body.^[2] Between 1795 and 1831 it was written where corporal now stands,^[2] a use the Shorter Oxford dates from the early 18th to the mid 19th century, with corporeal punishment as its example.^[8] As a plural noun, corporeals has meant material things since 1647,^[2] and in law corporeal possessions since 1880.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1425 – of the body, physical, material.^[5][8]
• 1610 – of the animal body as opposed to the spirit; bodily, mortal.^[2][6]
• before 1620 – of the nature of matter; material.^[2]
• 1647 – noun, in the plural: material things.^[2]
• c. 1670 – in law, tangible, consisting of material objects.^[2]
• 1765 – bodily, of something by which the body is affected.^[2]
• 1880 – noun, in law: corporeal possessions.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having a physical body; bodily or mortal rather than spiritual.^[11][9][2]
2. Of a material nature; physical, not immaterial.^[11][9][2]
3. (law) Tangible; consisting of material objects: corporeal hereditament.^[2][8][9]
4. (archaic) Relating to or affecting the human body; corporal.^[9][8]

Noun

1. In the plural, material things.^[2][8]
2. (law) In the plural, corporeal possessions.^[2][8]

Word family

• corporeality
• corporeally
• corporealness
• extracorporeal
• noncorporeal

Related words

• corporal
• corpus
• corpse
• corps
• incorporeal
• midriff

Usage notes

Dictionary.com lists corporal and corporeal together as words to compare.^[4] The OED notes that corporeal was formerly used where corporal is now employed.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins