egalitarian

Etymology

It is borrowed from French égalitaire, adapted with the English suffix -ian.^[2][3][4][5] The French word is formed from égalité (“equality”) and -aire;^[3][5] the noun is from Latin aequālitās, from aequālis (“equal”).^[6][3][7][2] The Oxford Dictionary of English derives the French adjective from égal (“equal”).^[8] Collins and Dictionary.com instead describe it as an alteration of equalitarian, with the French adjective taking the place of equal;^[9][10] that word is recorded from 1799, and the OED compares the two.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Asserting the equality of all people: 1885, in G. Murray's Under the Lens.^[4][2][3] Etymonline dates the adjective to 1881.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the word was at first often used in the phrase egalitarian despotism, of the government that came out of the French Revolution or of communist ideas.^[7] The noun, a person who believes in the equality of all people, is recorded from 1920,^[4][2][7] though Merriam-Webster dates it to 1905.^[3] The word later came to cover the principle of equal treatment and equal political, social and economic rights for everyone.^[5][9]

Timeline

• 1885 – adjective, asserting the equality of all people.^[4][2][3] Etymonline dates it to 1881.^[7]
• 1920 – noun, a person who holds this belief.^[4][2][7] Merriam-Webster dates the noun to 1905.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Believing in, or based on, the principle that all people are equal and deserve the same rights and opportunities; democratic: an egalitarian society.^[9][3][5]

Noun

1. A person who believes in this principle.^[9][3][4]

Word family

• egalitarianism
• antiegalitarian

Related words

• equality
• equal
• equalitarian

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House