dense
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Pronunciation
- IPA: /dens/[1]
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 Ancient Greek δασύς (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
- Closely crowded together; compact: a dense crowd.
- Thick and hard to see through: dense fog.
- (physics) Having a high density.
- (informal) Stupid or slow to understand.
Word family
- densely
- denseness
- densify
- densimeter
- nondense
- superdense
- ultradense
- density
Related words
- condense
References
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press