Etymologically
Log in

cortex

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 03:18. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈkɔːtɛks/[1]
  • US: /ˈkɔɹtɛks/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cortex (“bark of a tree, rind, husk”).[2][3][4][5] Klein glosses the Latin word literally as "that which is stripped off" and derives it, like corium (“hide, leather”), from a base meaning "to cut, separate";[6] Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary trace it to Proto-Indo-European *sker- (“to cut”).[3][5] Barnhart notes that the Latin form replaced the earlier English cortice, recorded probably before 1425 in a translation of Chauliac's “Grande Chirurgie”;[4] the Middle English word, from the Latin accusative corticem, meant a rind or crust, or a layer of the eye.[7] Klein compares the sense development of bark, the rind of a tree.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

An outer shell or husk, used figuratively: 1653 in Barnhart,[4] 1660 in the OED, in H. More's Explanation of the Grand Mystery of Godliness.[2] Etymonline dates the word to the 1650s.[3]

Semantic evolution

From the late 17th century the word named the bark of certain trees used in medicine, especially Peruvian or cinchona bark, a sense the OED records from 1680 to 1803.[2][8] At the same time it was applied to any outer layer of a plant or animal body or of an organ (before 1676).[2] The anatomical sense, the outer grey matter of the brain, is recorded from 1741,[2][3][9] and the botanical sense, the tissue lying outside the vascular bundles, from 1875.[2] The figurative sense "outer shell" died out by the mid 18th century.[8][2]

Timeline

  • before 1425 – the earlier form cortice, a rind or crust.[7][4]
  • 1653 – an outer shell or husk.[4][3]
  • before 1676 – an outer layer of a plant or animal body or of an organ.[2]
  • 1680 – the bark of trees used in medicine, especially Peruvian bark (obsolete by 1803).[2]
  • 1741 – the outer grey matter of the brain.[2][3]
  • 1875 – in botany, the tissue between the vascular bundles and the epidermis.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The outer layer of an organ or structure, such as the kidney or the adrenal gland.[10][11][8]
  2. The outer layer of grey matter of the cerebrum (the cerebral cortex), and a similar layer of the cerebellum.[10][11][8]
  3. In botany, the tissue in stems and roots between the epidermis and the vascular tissue; also the bark of a stem.[10][8]
  4. The bark of certain plants, or the peel of certain fruits, used in medicine, such as cinchona bark.[11][8][2]

Word family

  • cortical
  • cortico-
  • subcortex
  • corticolous
  • corium
  • excoriate
  • cuirass
  • shear

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b 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)
  8. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  11. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster