cylinder

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈsɪl.ɪn.də/, US /ˈsɪl.ɪn.dɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cylindrus (“roller, cylinder”), probably through Middle French cylindre,^[2][3][4] from Greek κύλινδρος (kúlindros, “roller, roll”),^[2][3][4] from κυλίνδω (kulíndō), to roll, of uncertain origin.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A geometrical solid with equal, parallel circular ends: 1570, in Billingsley's translation of Euclid.^[2][5] Etymonline also records Middle English chilindre, a cylinder-shaped portable sundial, in the late 14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Any cylindrical object is from 1641.^[5] The chamber of a steam engine in which steam drives the piston is from the 1690s,^[3] hence the cylinders of an internal-combustion engine.^[6][7] A container for compressed gas is from 1791,^[5] the chamber of a revolver by 1849,^[3] and a phonograph record by 1878.^[3][5] Cylindrical is from 1646.^[2]

Timeline

• late 14th century – chilindre, a sundial.^[3]
• 1570 – the geometrical solid.^[2][5]
• 1646 – cylindrical.^[2]
• 1690s – a steam-engine cylinder.^[3]
• 1849 – a revolver's cylinder.^[3]
• 1878 – a phonograph cylinder.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A solid or surface with two parallel circular ends joined by a curved surface.
2. A chamber in an engine in which a piston moves.
3. A cylindrical container, especially for gas under pressure.
4. The rotating part of a revolver that holds the cartridges.

Word family

• cylindered
• cylinderlike
• cylindrical
• cylindraceous
• multicylinder
• semicylinder
• cylinder head
• cylinder glass

Related words

• calender

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins