flotation

Etymology

It is formed from English float + -ation,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} and was first spelled floatation.^[4][6][7] The spelling “flot-” was probably influenced by French flottaison, which was used in technical terms translated into English, such as ligne de flottaison (“line of flotation”);^{[4][8][7][9][10][3]} the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English also point to flotilla.^[8][7] The OED calls the spelling etymologically unjustified, and thinks it prevailed because it hides the hybrid formation and makes the word look like other scientific terms.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action or condition of floating: 1806, in Olinthus Gregory's Treatise of Mechanics.^[2][4][6] Etymonline dates the word to 1765.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The modern spelling appeared about 1850.^[4] The word was first used in mechanics, in terms such as line of flotation and plane of flotation, where the surface of a liquid meets a body floating in it.^[8] From 1889 it was used in finance for the floating of a company, the launching of an enterprise by issuing shares;^[2][8] from 1908 it was used in mining for the separation of crushed ore by the different capacity of its particles to float on a liquid, as in froth flotation.^[2][8][11] From 1977 it was also used of floating in a lightproof tank of warm salt water for relaxation.^[2][8]

Timeline

• 1806 – the action of floating; the condition of keeping afloat.^[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to 1765.^[3]
• c. 1850 – the spelling flotation.^[4]
• 1889 – the floating of a company or enterprise.^[2]
• 1908 – the separation of ore particles by floating.^[2]
• 1977 – floating in a salt-water tank for relaxation.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The action or state of floating; buoyancy: a flotation vest.^[11][6][2]
2. The launching or financing of a company or enterprise by issuing shares or bonds, or the raising of a loan or new capital in this way.^[11][6][2]
3. A process of separating valuable ore from crushed rock, in which the particles are carried to the surface by froth or bubbles.^[11][6][8]
4. Floating in a lightproof, soundproof tank of warm salt water as a form of relaxation.^[2][8]

Word family

• flotation device
• personal flotation device

Related words

• float
• floatation
• flotsam
• flotilla
• afloat

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins