dynamite

Etymology

It is borrowed from Swedish dynamit,^[2][3][4][5] coined in 1867 by its inventor, the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel,^[2][3][6] from Ancient Greek δύναμις (dúnamis, “power, force”)^[7][2][8] and the suffix -it (the English suffix -ite).^[3][7] The Greek noun comes from δύναμαι (dúnamai, “to be able”), which is of unknown origin;^[2] it is also the source of dynamic and dynamo.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A high explosive made of nitroglycerine mixed with an inert absorbent material, for greater safety in handling: 1867, in a patent specification.^[7][9]

Semantic evolution

The verb, to blow up with dynamite, is recorded by 1878 in Etymonline,^[2] and in the OED from 1881, also figuratively.^[7][9] The figurative noun, something or someone potentially dangerous or disastrous, dates from 1922, in a letter of Hart Crane.^[7][2] A positive sense of something very powerful or impressive appeared in American slang from 1942,^[7] and Etymonline places the sense "dynamic and excellent" in the mid-1960s, perhaps first in African-American speech.^[2] In criminal slang dynamite was heroin or a similar drug from 1924,^[7] and Green's Dictionary of Slang records it for whisky in 1887.^[10]

Timeline

• 1867 – coined by Alfred Nobel; the explosive.^[7][2][3]
• 1878 – verb, to blow up with dynamite.^[2]
• 1887 – slang, whisky.^[10]
• 1922 – figuratively, something potentially dangerous.^[7][2]
• 1924 – slang, heroin.^[7]
• 1942 – slang, something very powerful or impressive.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A powerful explosive made of nitroglycerine absorbed in an inert material such as kieselguhr, used in mining and quarrying.^[11][9][7]
2. (informal) A spectacular, exciting or potentially dangerous person or thing: The scandal was political dynamite.^[11][7]
3. (slang) heroin or a similar narcotic.^[7][10]

Verb

1. To blow up or destroy with dynamite, or to charge with it: The engineers dynamited the old bridge.^[11][9][7]
2. To wreck or ruin something completely.^[9][7]

Adjective

1. (slang) Excellent or terrific.^[9][2]

Word family

• dynamiter
• dynamitic
• dynamitically
• undynamited

Related words

• dynamic
• dynamo
• dynasty
• dyne

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins