fit

English has two main words spelled fit: “suitable”, with the verb and noun formed from it, and “a sudden attack”, from Old English fitt “conflict”.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /fɪt/^[4]

fit¹ suitable

Etymology

The adjective meaning “suitable” is inherited from Middle English fit, fytt, of unknown origin.^[5][6][3] It may come from the Middle English noun fitte “an adversary of equal power, one's match” (before 1250),^[1][6] or from the past participle of a verb fitten “to be suitable”;^[1][3] Merriam-Webster relates the verb to Middle Dutch vitten “to be suitable” and Old Norse fitja “to knit”.^[2] The verb fitten first meant “to marshal troops”, before 1400.^[1][3] The noun “the way something fits” is from the verb.^[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective “fitting, suitable”: probably about 1375 in Barnhart,^[1] about 1440 in the OED,^[7] the mid-15th century in Etymonline.^[6] The verb “to be suitable” is from probably before 1420, in Lydgate's Troy Book.^[1]

Semantic evolution

The sense of being the right size and shape, of a manufactured article, is from 1530.^[7] Hoad finds the verb's senses “to be or make suitable” and “to supply, equip” only from the late 16th century.^[3] See fit and think fit are from 1611.^[7] In athletics fit, “in condition, properly trained”, is from 1869.^[6] Herbert Spencer coined survival of the fittest in 1867.^[6] The noun, the process of fitting, is from the 1680s; the fitting of one thing to another is from 1823 and the way something fits from 1831.^[6][1][7]

Timeline

• before 1250 – noun, one's match.^[7][1]
• c. 1375 – adjective, suitable.^[1]
• before 1400 – verb, to marshal troops.^[1]
• before 1420 – verb, to be suitable.^[1]
• 1530 – of the right size.^[7]
• 1823 – noun, the fitting of one thing to another.^[6][1]
• 1867 – survival of the fittest.^[6]
• 1869 – physically fit.^[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Suitable or right for a purpose.
2. In good physical condition; healthy.
3. Qualified or competent; proper: not fit to be seen.
4. (British, informal) Sexually attractive.

Verb

1. To be the right size and shape for.
2. To be suitable or appropriate; to agree with.
3. To put in place or install; to equip.
4. To make suitable; to adapt.

Noun

1. The way in which something fits: a tight fit.

Word family

• fitness
• fitter
• fitting
• outfit
• befit
• misfit
• refit

fit² sudden attack

Etymology

The sudden attack is inherited from Middle English fit (“a painful or exciting experience”),^[6][1] probably inherited from Old English fitt (“conflict, struggle”),^[6][1][2] which is of uncertain origin, with no clear cognates outside English.^[6][3] Etymonline suggests it may be related to the adjective fit through the idea of meeting,^[6] and the SOED suggests an original meaning “juncture, meeting, match”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A position of hardship, danger or intense excitement: about 1325,^[7] the early 14th century,^[6] and before 1376 in Piers Plowman.^[1] Old English fitt, “conflict”, is recorded once.^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “sudden sharp attack, paroxysm” of an illness is first recorded before 1547,^[1][7] and a seizure with loss of consciousness from 1621.^[7] A sudden impulse toward activity is from the 1580s,^[6] and a sudden outburst of a feeling, such as anger, belongs to the same period.^[7] By fits is from the 1580s and by fits and starts by the 1610s;^[6] Middle English had stertmele “irregularly, by fits and starts”.^[6] Hyperbolical phrases such as to throw a fit are from 1839.^[7] Fitful is first found in Shakespeare's Macbeth, and its modern sense, “irregular, spasmodic”, is from Scott's The Lady of the Lake (1810).^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1325 – a time of hardship or excitement.^[7]
• before 1547 – a paroxysm.^[1][7]
• 1580s – a sudden impulse, and by fits.^[6]
• 1610s – by fits and starts.^[6]
• 1621 – a seizure with loss of consciousness.^[7]
• 1839 – to throw a fit.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A sudden attack of an illness, especially a seizure or convulsion.
2. A sudden outburst of a feeling or activity: a fit of laughter.
3. (informal) An outburst of anger: she'll have a fit.

Word family

• fitful

Usage notes

A third, archaic fit (also fytte) is a section of a poem or song, a canto, from Old English fitt, recorded about 888;^[7][2] Merriam-Webster relates it to Old Saxon fittea “division of a poem”.^[2] Liberman argues that all the words spelled fit are related, with a basic meaning “to move back and forth, make sporadic movements”, as in fitful and by fits and starts.^[8] In Scotland fit is also a form of foot.^[5][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Liberman, Anatoly (2008), An Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology: An Introduction, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)