footnote

Etymology

It is a compound from English foot + note,^[2][3][4][5] with foot in its sense of the lower end of a document, recorded from the 1660s.^[6] It was so called from its position at the foot of a page.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A note or added piece of information printed at the bottom of a page to explain or comment on something in the main text: 1711, in the introduction to an edition of W. Drummond's Works.^[2] The dictionaries disagree on the date: Merriam-Webster gives 1607 as the first known use,^[4] the Shorter Oxford the early 19th century,^[3] Dictionary.com 1835–45^[5] and Etymonline 1841, as a printing term.^[6] The OED entry was revised in 2016.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word was at first written also as foot-note, and bottom note was sometimes used for the same thing.^[6] From 1858 a footnote could also be anything additional, subordinate or of lesser importance,^[2][3] such as a remark added to a larger statement or an event seen as a minor part of a bigger one.^[4][7] The verb, to add a footnote or footnotes to, is recorded from 1864.^[2][4][6]

Timeline

• 1660s – foot, the lower end of a document.^[6]
• 1711 – a note printed at the bottom of a page.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates this sense to 1607,^[4] Etymonline to 1841.^[6]
• 1858 – something additional or less important.^[2]
• 1864 – verb, to supply with footnotes.^[2][4][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A note of explanation, comment or reference printed at the bottom of a page and marked in the text by a symbol or number: The translator explained the pun in a footnote.^[7][4][2]
2. A remark, fact or event that is added to something larger or is of lesser importance: The scandal ended up as a footnote to his career.^[7][4][2]

Verb

1. To supply a page, book or passage with footnotes, or to comment on something in a footnote.^[7][4][3]

Related words

• foot
• note
• annotation

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 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 f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins