fill

Pronunciation

• IPA: /fɪl/^[1]

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English fillen,^[2][3] inherited from Old English fyllan (“to fill, make full, replenish, satisfy; to fulfil”),^[4][2] from Proto-Germanic *fulljanan (“to fill”),^[4][2] the source also of Old Saxon fullian, Old Norse fylla, Old Frisian fullia, Dutch vullen, German füllen and Gothic fulljan,^[4][2][5] a causative derivative of Proto-Germanic *fullaz (“full”), the source of full.^[4][6][7] The noun is Middle English fille,^[2] from Old English fyllu “fullness, feast, satiety”,^[4][2] from Proto-Germanic *fullīn, a noun of state from the same adjective,^[7][4] and has always been associated with the verb.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb, “to make full”: Old English before 1000, and Middle English fillen probably about 1200, in the Ormulum.^[2] The noun, a full supply of food or drink, is Old English, about 725 in Beowulf according to Barnhart,^[2] about 893 in the OED.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Since Old English the noun one's fill, as much as one wants, has been used chiefly of food and drink.^[8] A quantity sufficient to fill a space is from 1555,^[8] an embankment filling a hollow from 1850,^[8] and secondary material inserted for continuity in music or writing from 1934.^[8][4] To fill the bill (1882) was American theatre slang, of a star so famous that the poster carried only his or her name,^[4] and to fill out, to write in the required matter on a form, is from 1880.^[4] Filler is from 1496,^[2] and filling from 1325–26.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 725 – noun, a full supply.^[2]
• a. 1000 – verb, to make full.^[2][8]
• 1555 – a quantity that fills.^[8]
• 1850 – an embankment.^[8]
• 1880 – fill out.^[4]
• 1882 – fill the bill.^[4]
• 1934 – filler material in music.^[8][4]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To put as much into something as it can hold: fill a glass.
2. To become full.
3. To stop or plug up an opening; to repair a cavity in a tooth.
4. To occupy a position or space: fill a vacancy.
5. To meet or satisfy: fill an order.
6. To supply as much as is needed, as with food.

Noun

1. An amount needed to make full or satisfied: ate his fill.
2. Material, such as earth or gravel, used for filling, or a built-up piece of land.

Word family

• fillable
• backfill
• eye-filling
• fiberfill
• filler
• filling
• fulfill
• fulfil

Related words

• full
• plenty

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ 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