Etymologically
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filtration

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 23:18. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • US: /fɪlˈtɹeɪʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French filtration (“the action of filtering”), recorded in Middle French from 1578, and its probable source borrowed from New Latin filtrātiō, recorded from 1532.[2] Etymonline also suggests the French word, with a question mark.[3] The Latin noun is formed from the past participle stem of Medieval Latin filtrō (“to filter”),[2] itself from filtrum (“felt”), felt having been used to strain liquids.[3] Etymonline traces filtrum to Proto-West Germanic *filtiz, while Wiktionary derives it from Frankish *filtir, from Proto-West Germanic *felt, the source of felt.[3][1] The Shorter Oxford takes it as French, from filtrer (“to filter”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action or process of filtering something: 1602, in William Clowes's treatise on the cure of struma.[2] Etymonline dates the word to about 1600,[3] and Merriam-Webster to 1605.[5]

Semantic evolution

The word was first used of straining a liquid through a filter to clear it, and soon also in extended and figurative senses.[2] Johnson (1755) described it as a method of making liquors fine and clear, citing straining through paper whose small pores let only the finer parts pass.[6] From 1644, in Kenelm Digby, it also meant the passing of a liquid through a filter or its seeping through a porous substance;[2][4] the OED notes that French did not have this sense of percolation until 1690.[2] Merriam-Webster also gives the sense "diffusion".[5]

Timeline

  • 1602 – the action or process of filtering.[2]
  • 1644 – the passing of a liquid through a filter; percolation.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act or process of filtering something: the filtration of drinking water.[7][8][5][2]
  2. The passing of a liquid or gas through a filter or a porous substance; percolation, also diffusion.[5][2][4]

Word family

  • ultrafiltration

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins