footage

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈfʊt.ɪdʒ/, US /ˈfʊt̬.ɪdʒ/^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from foot, as a measure of length, and the suffix -age.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In mining, a piecework system of paying miners by the running foot of work done: 1892 in the OED,^[4] and MWU dates its first known use to the same year.^[5] The SOED also has the amount paid or mined in this way.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The length in feet of cinema film used in a scene or for a subject is from 1916,^[4][2] from which footage came to mean the filmed material itself, the shots or sequences of a subject,^[6][7][3] and then television film and video too.^[4][6] A length or area measured in feet, as of a house, is another general use.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 1892 – payment of miners by the foot.^[4]
• 1916 – the length of film used.^[4][2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Recorded film or video material, especially of a particular event or subject.
2. Length or extent measured in feet.
3. (mining) Payment by the linear foot of work done, or the amount paid.

Word family

• file footage
• stock footage

Related words

• foot
• acreage
• mileage
• tonnage

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 Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins