Etymologically
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This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 03:56. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɪkˈspænd/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English expaunden, borrowed from Anglo-Norman espaundre (Old French espandre “to spread, spill”) and directly borrowed from Latin expandere (“to spread out, unfold”),[2][3][4] from ex- (“out”) and pandere (“to spread”),[2][3] from a nasalized form of PIE Proto-Indo-European *pete- (“to spread”),[2][3] the root of fathom.[4][3] It is a doublet of spawn.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To spread out or open out: 1422 in Barnhart, 1432–50 in the OED.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

To spread itself out or develop is from 1560.[5] To increase in size or scope, of something immaterial, is from about 1645, and of a material object from 1665;[3][5] to swell or become larger in bulk is from 1807–26.[5] To write out in full or develop a statement is from 1802,[5] and to become communicative from 1823.[5] Expanse is from 1667, in Milton's Paradise Lost,[3] and expandable from 1926, in Fowler.[3]

Timeline

  • 1422 – to spread out.[3]
  • 1560 – to unfold, develop.[5]
  • c. 1645 – to enlarge.[3]
  • 1667 – expanse.[3]
  • 1802 – to write out in full.[5]
  • 1823 – to become communicative.[5]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To make or become larger in size, number or scope.
  2. To spread or open out.
  3. (expand on) To give more details about a subject.
  4. To become relaxed and talkative.
  5. (mathematics) To write an expression as a sum of terms.

Word family

  • expandable
  • expander
  • expandability
  • nonexpanded
  • semiexpanded
  • unexpanded
  • companding
  • nonexpanding

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press