distill

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English distillen, also destillen,^[2] borrowed from Old French distiller^{[3][4][5][6][2]} and directly borrowed from Latin distillō (“to trickle down in drops”),^[7][2][8] a later and, as the OED says, less correct form of dēstillō.^{[7][9][10][5]} Merriam-Webster Unabridged calls the form in dis- a Late Latin alteration and takes the French verb as Middle French,^[11] and Chambers sees a substitution of the prefix.^[6] The Latin verb is formed from dē- (“down”) and stillō (“to drip”),^[9][11][8] from stilla (“a drop”),^{[9][11][3][4]} although Etymonline and Barnhart analyse the prefix as dis- (“apart”).^[3][4] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from about 1325,^[12] and the French verb from the 14th century, with Spanish destilar and Italian distillare beside it.^[7][3] The origin of the Latin noun is uncertain.^[3] Etymonline reports a possible root Proto-Indo-European *sti- and de Vaan's doubtful comparisons.^[3] Barnhart takes it as a diminutive of stīria (“frozen drop, icicle”),^[4] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged also compares German stieren (“to stare”), Old Norse stira (“to stare”), Lithuanian stỹrti (“to stiffen”) and Old English stān (“stone”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To melt into tears: “This Troylus in teris gan distille”, in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, about 1374.^[7][13] Barnhart dates the word to probably about 1378, in Wycliffe's writings, for producing an essence by condensation given off in drops,^[4] and Etymonline to the late 14th century, as “to let fall in drops”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The Latin verb described liquid falling in drops, and the early English uses share that image: tears or oil dripping,^[7][2] as well as words or qualities given out in small quantities, from Gower in 1393 on.^[7][13] The chemical sense is recorded from 1398,^[7] and Barnhart's first record already concerns an essence produced by condensation given off in drops.^[4] Figurative use for extracting the essence of something follows from 1599, and the sense of passing or flowing gently from the Douay Bible of 1610.^[7] Johnson (1755) gave both groups of senses, first letting fall in drops, then forcing through the vessels of distillation.^[14] Among the derivatives are distillation from before 1393, distiller from 1577 and distillery from 1677, at first the act or art of distilling and only from 1759 the place.^[4] The shortened Middle English verb stillen is the source of still, the apparatus, recorded from the 1530s.^[3] A noun distill, a still, turns up in Cheshire records of 1782,^[15] and the OED has it from before 1828.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – to melt into tears, in Chaucer (obsolete after 1532).^[7]
• 1393 – to impart in small quantities, to infuse.^[7]
• 1398 – to subject to distillation.^[7]
• c. 1400 – to trickle down or fall in tiny drops, and to let fall in drops.^[7][3]
• c. 1470 – to melt or dissolve (obsolete after 1705).^[7]
• 1599 – figuratively, to extract the essence of something.^[7]
• 1600s – the spelling distil, beside the older distill.^[7]
• 1610 – to pass or flow gently, chiefly figuratively.^[7]
• before 1637 – to transform into something by distillation.^[7]
• 1716 – to drip or be wet with something, in Gay's Trivia.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To purify a liquid by heating it until it turns to vapour and then cooling the vapour so that it condenses.^[16][17][11]
2. To make something, especially spirits, in this way: The farm distills brandy from its pears.^{[16][18][17][11]}
3. To draw out the essence of something, such as an idea: She distilled three years of research into one short chapter.^[16][17][7]
4. To let fall or give off in drops or in a small amount.^[17][11][7]
5. To impart or infuse in small quantities.^[11][7][8]
6. To fall in tiny drops; to trickle or ooze.^[6][7][8]
7. To undergo distillation; to evaporate and condense again.^[6][17][7]
8. (obsolete, c. 1374–1532) To melt into tears.^[7][2]

Word family

• distillable
• distillate
• distiller
• distillery
• distillment
• redistill

Related words

• still
• instill
• distillation

Usage notes

Distill is the standard American spelling and distil the British one.^[1][6][8] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives distil as the less common form.^[11] The OED records distill from Middle English on and distil from the 17th century.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e 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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
13. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ a b c Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
17. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
18. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press