differential

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin differentiālis (“of or relating to difference”),^[2][3][4] from Latin differentia (“difference, diversity”),^[3][4] the noun of differō (“to carry apart, differ”), with the adjective suffix -ālis.^[2] The mathematical sense followed French différentiel.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Serving to distinguish one thing from another, distinctive: 1615.^[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the adjective only from the 1640s (1647).^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

From "distinctive" and "depending on a difference" (1618), applied especially to taxes and rates that varied with circumstances,^[2][6] the word was taken up by the new calculus around 1700: differential calculus is recorded from 1702, and the noun differential, an infinitesimally small change in a quantity, from 1702 or 1704.^[2][3][5] Mechanics borrowed it in 1804 for instruments working with different rates of motion,^[2] and in 1872 the gear that lets two wheels on one axle turn at different speeds became a differential.^[2] Later nouns name a difference in prices (1879) and in wages between industries or groups of workers (1894),^[2] and in medicine a differential diagnosis (1829) sorts out conditions with similar symptoms.^[2]

Timeline

• 1615 – distinguishing, distinctive.^[2]
• 1618 – depending on or varying with a difference.^[2]
• 1640s – Etymonline's first date for the adjective.^[3]
• 1702 – in mathematics, of differentials, as in differential calculus.^[2][3]
• 1704 – the noun, an infinitesimal difference, according to Etymonline and Merriam-Webster.^[3][5]
• 1829 – differential diagnosis.^[2]
• 1872 – the differential gear.^[2]
• 1879 – a difference in charges or prices.^[2]
• 1894 – a difference in wages.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Relating to, showing or depending on a difference; varying with circumstances.
2. Making a distinction; distinctive.
3. (mathematics) Relating to derivatives or to differentiation.
4. (physics, engineering) Based on the difference between two motions, forces or effects.

Noun

1. A difference between comparable things, especially in pay between groups of workers or in prices.
2. (mathematics) An infinitesimally small change in a variable, or the product of a function's derivative and such a change.
3. A set of gears that lets the driving wheels of a vehicle turn at different speeds, as when cornering.

Word family

• differentially
• differential analyzer
• differential coefficient
• differential equation
• differential gear
• limited-slip differential
• partial differential equation
• differential diagnosis

Related words

• differ
• difference
• different
• differentiate
• differentiation

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press