Etymologically
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dense

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French dense and directly from Latin dēnsus, thick, crowded, cloudy,[2][3][4] of uncertain origin,[3] perhaps related to Greek dasús, hairy, shaggy, thick with leaves,[2][3][5] though even this is doubted.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Closely compacted, thick: probably before 1425,[2] the early 15th century in Etymonline.[3]

Semantic evolution

Of close molecular structure, as opposed to rare, is from 1599,[6] and of things crowded closely together from 1776.[6] The sense stupid, thick-headed, is first recorded in 1822,[2][3] and of ignorance, profound or impenetrable, from 1877.[6] Density is from 1603, in Holland's Plutarch.[2]

Timeline

  • before 1425 – thick, compact.[2]
  • 1599 – of close structure.[6]
  • 1603 – density.[2]
  • 1776 – closely crowded.[6]
  • 1822 – stupid.[2][3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Closely crowded together; compact: a dense crowd.
  2. Thick and hard to see through: dense fog.
  3. (physics) Having a high density.
  4. (informal) Stupid or slow to understand.

Word family

  • densely
  • denseness
  • densify
  • densimeter
  • nondense
  • superdense
  • ultradense
  • density
  • condense

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press