Etymologically
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dust

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 02:25. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /dʌst/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dust, inherited from Old English dūst,[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *dunstaz, the source also of German Dunst “mist, vapour”, Old High German tunst “storm, breath” and Dutch duist “chaff, meal dust”,[2][3][4] probably from Proto-Indo-European *dheu- (“dust, smoke, vapour”).[2] Its original sense seems to have been “that which rises in a cloud”.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Fine dry particles of earth or other matter: about 825 in the OED, about 725 in the poem Christ according to Barnhart.[6][3]

Semantic evolution

Already in Old English it was the substance to which the human body decays, and figuratively mortal life.[2][6] Biblical phrases such as shake the dust off one's feet became part of the language.[5] A cloud of dust in the air is from the 1570s,[2] and figurative confusion or disturbance from the 1560s, as in kick up a dust (1753).[2] The verb, to rise as dust, is from before 1200,[3][2] to rid of dust from the 1560s and to sprinkle with dust from the 1590s.[2] Duster is from 1576,[3] the dust jacket from 1927–28,[2][3] and the Dust Bowl from 1936.[3] In American slang to dust, to kill, is from 1938.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 825 – fine particles.[6]
  • c. 1200 – verb, to rise as dust.[3]
  • 1560s – to remove dust.[2]
  • 1753 – kick up a dust.[2]
  • 1927 – dust jacket.[2]
  • 1936 – Dust Bowl.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Fine dry powder made of particles of earth, dirt or other matter.
  2. A cloud of such particles.
  3. (literary) The earth, or the remains of a dead body.

Verb

  1. To remove dust from furniture or other things.
  2. To sprinkle with a fine powder, such as sugar or flour.

Word family

  • dustless
  • dustlike
  • duster
  • redust
  • undusted
  • dust bunny
  • dust off
  • crop-dust
  • dusty
  • sawdust
  • stardust

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press