Etymologically
Log in

distribute

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:33. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /dɪˈstɹɪbjut/[1]
  • UK: /dɪˈstɹɪbjuːt/, /ˈdɪstɹɪbjuːt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English distributen,[2][3] borrowed from Latin distribūtus, the past participle of distribuō (“to divide, deal out in portions”),[4][2][5][6] made of dis- (“apart, in various directions”) and tribuō (“to assign, grant, allot”),[4][2][7] the verb behind tribute.[5][8] Etymonline connects tribuō with tribus (“tribe”), since it could also mean "to allot among the tribes".[2] Johnson (1755) gave the Latin verb as its source.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To deal out something in shares among a number of people: a1464, in John Capgrave's Abbreuiacion of Cronicles.[4] Barnhart dates the verb to probably before 1425, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon, and Etymonline to the early 15th century.[5][2] A past participle distribute, "distributed", is recorded from 1434.[4]

Semantic evolution

From giving out shares the verb widened to spreading things over a whole space or surface (?c1510)[4][10] and to dividing a whole into parts with different functions (1553);[4] Etymonline dates the meaning "separate and put in order" to the 1550s.[2] Shakespeare used it in Coriolanus for administering justice, a sense obsolete after 1746.[4] Johnson (1755) defined the verb as to divide among more than two, to deal out.[9] Later technical senses include classifying (1664), dividing in arithmetic (1593–1702, now obsolete), returning used type to its case in printing (1615), and, in logic, using a term so that it covers every member of its class (1827).[4][10]

Timeline

  • probably before 1425 – Barnhart's first date.[5]
  • 1434 – distribute as a past participle, “distributed”.[4]
  • a1464 – to deal out in shares.[4]
  • ?c1510 – to spread over a space or surface.[4]
  • 1553 – to divide a whole into distinct parts.[4]
  • 1593 – (arithmetic) to divide (obsolete by 1702).[4]
  • 1615 – (printing) to put used type back in its case.[4]
  • a1616 – to administer justice (obsolete).[4]
  • 1664 – to classify.[4]
  • 1827 – (logic) to use a term in its full extension.[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To give out something in shares to a number of people; to allot or apportion.
  2. To hand out or deliver to many people or places: Volunteers distributed blankets at the station.
  3. To spread or scatter over an area or through a space, often in the passive: The plant is distributed across the northern hills.
  4. To divide into classes or groups; to classify.
  5. (printing) To return used type to its proper places in the case.
  6. (logic) To use a term so that it refers to every member of the class it names.

Word family

  • distributee
  • distributable
  • distributary
  • distributer
  • redistribute
  • distribution
  • distributor

Usage notes

Dictionary.com contrasts distribute, which suggests giving a definite or limited amount out in measured shares to individuals, with dispense, which once suggested liberal, general giving and now mostly means giving from an official source according to need.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House