decline

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /dɪˈklaɪn/, /dəˈklaɪn/, US /dɪˈklaɪn/^[1]

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English declinen, borrowed from Old French decliner (“to turn aside, sink”),^[2][3][4] from Latin dēclīnāre (“to bend, turn aside, inflect”),^[2][3] from dē- (“from”) and clīnāre (“to bend”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *klei- (“to lean”).^[2] It is related to lean.^[3][5] The noun is Old French declin, from the verb.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun, a sinking into a weaker or worse condition: before 1325 in Barnhart, before 1327 in the OED.^[3][6] The verb, to turn aside or deviate, is from about 1325 in the OED and before 1376, in Piers Plowman, in Barnhart.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

The grammatical sense, to inflect a noun or adjective, is from the late 14th century.^[2] Because de- was read as “downward”, the sense shifted: to bend or slope down is from before 1420 in Barnhart and about 1400 in Etymonline.^[3][2] To refuse politely is from about 1631 in Barnhart, the 1630s in Etymonline.^[3][2] As a noun, the later years of life, short for decline of life, is from 1711,^[2][6] and a wasting disease such as tuberculosis from 1783.^[6] A fall in prices is from 1885.^[6]

Timeline

• before 1325 – the noun, a falling off.^[3]
• late 14th century – to inflect in grammar.^[2]
• c. 1400 – to slope down.^[2]
• c. 1631 – to refuse politely.^[3]
• 1783 – a wasting disease.^[6]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To politely refuse something.
2. To become smaller, fewer or less; to diminish.
3. To become gradually worse in quality or health.
4. To slope or bend downward.
5. (grammar) To give the forms of a noun, pronoun or adjective for case and number.

Noun

1. A gradual fall in amount, quality or strength.

Word family

• declinable
• decliner
• declinist
• declinometer
• undeclined
• redecline
• undeclining
• declension

Related words

• climate
• cline
• declivity
• incline
• recline
• declination
• lean
• clinic

Usage notes

In Scottish, Irish and northern English dialect a decline was consumption, tuberculosis.^[7]

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)