Etymologically
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dilute

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /daɪˈljuːt/[1]
  • US: /daɪˈlut/, /dɪˈlut/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dīlūtus (“washed away, dissolved; diluted, weak”), the past participle of dīluō (“to wash away, dissolve, dilute”),[2][3][4][5][6] formed from dī- (“apart, away”) and -luō, the combining form of lavō (“to wash”),[3][4][7][5] from Proto-Indo-European *leue- (“to wash”).[3] Merriam-Webster sees in it also luō (“to atone for”).[8] The adjective, from 1605, comes from the same participle.[4][2] The OED compares diluer.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Figuratively, to weaken or take away the strength or force of something: about 1555 according to Barnhart and Merriam-Webster,[4][8] the 1550s in Etymonline.[3] The OED's first record is in N. Harpsfield's treatise on the divorce of Henry VIII, before 1575.[2]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense came first; the literal one, to make a liquid thinner by adding water, is recorded from the 1660s according to Etymonline; the OED's first record is from 1691, in Evelyn's Kalendarium Hortense.[3][2] Hooke used it in 1665 of weakening the brilliance of a colour.[2] In medicine it meant to treat a patient with diluents from 1716 to 1777, and the intransitive "to become diluted" is recorded from 1764.[2] The adjective was first figurative, "weak, paltry", in Bacon's Advancement of Learning (1605),[2][4] then "watered down" from 1658 and of chemical solutions from 1806.[2] Johnson (1755) defined the verb as to make thin, or to attenuate by mixing in other parts.[9] During the First World War dilution of skilled labour, the bringing in of unskilled workers called dilutees, was a new use.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 1555 – figuratively, to weaken, take away the force of.[4][8] The OED's first record is from before 1575.[2]
  • 1605 – adjective, weak, feeble, in Bacon's Advancement of Learning.[2][4]
  • 1658 – adjective, watered down.[2]
  • 1665 – to weaken a colour; of a colour, washed out.[2]
  • 1691 – to thin with water.[2] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1660s.[3]
  • 1716 – in medicine, to treat with diluents (obsolete by 1777).[2]
  • 1764 – intransitive, to become diluted.[2]
  • 1806 – adjective, of a chemical solution.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To make a liquid thinner or less concentrated by adding water or another liquid: Dilute the syrup with two parts water.[11][7][8]
  2. To weaken the force, effect or quality of something: Too many subplots dilute the drama.[11][7][8]
  3. In finance, to lower the value of each share of a company's stock by issuing more shares.[7][8]

Adjective

  1. Weakened by adding water; of low concentration: dilute sulphuric acid.[11][8][2]
  2. Lacking its proper strength; weak: a dilute version of the original plan.[8][2]
  3. In genetics, having reduced pigmentation.[8]

Word family

  • diluter
  • dilutive
  • diluteness
  • overdilute
  • undilute
  • diluent
  • dilution
  • diluvium
  • deluge
  • lave
  • lavatory

References

  1. ^ a b 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 r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins