current

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈkʌr.ənt/, US /ˈkɝː.ənt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English curraunt (“running, flowing”), borrowed from Old French corant (“running, lively, swift”),^[2][3][4] the present participle of corre (“to run”),^[2][3] from Latin currere (“to run”).^[2][3][5] The spelling current appeared in 1555, by influence of the Latin participle currēns.^[3][4] Latin currere goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kers- (“to run”),^[2][5][3] the source also of Latin carrus (“wagon”) and Greek ἐπίκουρος (epíkouros, “running to aid, ally”).^[3][6] It is related to course, courier, corridor, occur and currency.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Running, flowing: about 1300^[2] or probably before 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “presently in effect” appeared in the mid-15th century,^[2] first as a legal term recorded in 1438,^[3] and money was current, passing from hand to hand, from 1438^[8] or the late 15th century.^[2] “Generally reported, prevalent” is from 1562,^[8] “established by common consent” from the 1590s,^[2] and “now passing, in progress” from about 1600.^[2][3] Barnhart suggests that these meanings grew out of the legal sense.^[3] The noun “that which flows” is from the late 14th century,^[2] found before 1425 in Wycliffe's writings.^[3] A portion of water or air moving in one direction is from the 1550s,^[2] and the flow of electricity from 1747, when electricity was thought of as a kind of fluid.^[2] Current affairs is recorded by 1776 and current events from 1795.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – running, flowing.^[2]
• before 1425 – noun, a stream (Wycliffe).^[3]
• 1438 – presently in effect; of money, circulating.^[3][8]
• 1555 – the spelling current.^[3]
• 1550s – noun, a moving part of a body of water.^[2]
• 1562 – generally known, prevalent.^[8]
• c. 1600 – now in progress.^[2]
• 1747 – electric current.^[2]
• 1776 – current affairs.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Belonging to the present time; in progress now.
2. Passing from one person to another; circulating, as money.
3. Prevalent or generally accepted, especially at present.
4. (archaic) Running; flowing.

Noun

1. A steady onward movement.
2. A part of a body of water or air moving continuously in one direction.
3. A general tendency or course of events or opinions.
4. A flow of electric charge, or its rate of flow.

Word family

• currently
• currentness
• undercurrent
• countercurrent
• crosscurrent
• intercurrent
• overcurrent
• photocurrent

Related words

• currency
• course
• courier
• corridor
• occur
• recur
• cursor
• cursory
• excursion

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)