denominate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dēnōminātus,^[2][3][4][5] the past participle of dēnōminō (“to name, specify by name”);^[6][7] the OED and the Shorter Oxford name its participial stem as the source.^[6][8] The Latin verb is from dē-, which Etymonline glosses "completely" and the Oxford Dictionary of English "away, formally",^[2][9] and nōminō (“to name”),^[7][6][10] from nōmen (“name”),^[7][2][9] from Proto-Indo-European *no-men- (“name”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To give a name to: 1552, in Huloet's dictionary.^[6][3] Etymonline gives the 1550s, and the Random House text 1545–55.^[2][5] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English date the verb to late Middle English instead.^[8][9] From the 15th to the 17th century the Latin verb was sometimes Englished as dename.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The older meaning was naming a thing from or after something.^[6][8] In logic from 1599 an attribute was said to give a name to its subject.^[6] From 1616 a thing could denominate another by giving it its character; the Shorter Oxford calls this now rare.^[6][8] A use for "point out, indicate" lasted from 1710 to 1792.^[6] Johnson (1755) defines the verb simply as to name, with a quotation from Hooker.^[11] The sense common now, expressing a sum in a given currency, dates from the mid 20th century.^[9] The noun denomination had the arithmetical sense of a class of one kind of unit long before, from the 15th century.^[10] The participle was also used as an adjective from 1579, for "named" and in arithmetic for a number stated with its unit.^[6]

Timeline

• 1552 – to give a name to.^[6][3]
• 1579 – adjective, named, called; in arithmetic, of a number with the name of its unit.^[6]
• 1599 – in logic, of an attribute, to give a name to a subject.^[6]
• 1616 – of things, to give something its name or character.^[6]
• 1628 – noun, a word derived from another word (obsolete by 1654).^[6]
• 1710 – to point out, indicate (obsolete by 1792).^[6]
• mid 20th century – to express a sum in a particular currency.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To express a sum or asset in a particular currency, usually in the passive: The loans were denominated in euros.^[12][9][3]
2. (formal) To give a name to; to call or designate: The new district was denominated a borough.^{[9][12][3][6]}
3. (rare) Of a thing: to give something its character; to make it what it is.^[8][6]
4. (obsolete, 1710–92) To point out, indicate or denote.^[6][8][3]

Adjective

1. (mathematics) Of a number or quantity: stated with the name of its unit, as 7 in 7 miles.^[12][3][6]
2. (archaic) Named, called.^[3][6]

Word family

• denominable
• undenominated

Related words

• denomination
• denominative
• nominal
• nominate
• nominative
• denominator
• name
• noun

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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. ^ a b c d e f g Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins