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formula

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈfɔː.mjə.lə/, US /ˈfɔːr.mjə.lə/[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin fōrmula (“form, rule, method”), literally “small form”, a diminutive of fōrma “form”.[2][3][4] It is related to form and formulate.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A set form of words used in a ceremony or ritual: 1618 in MWU, before 1638 in Barnhart, the 1630s in Etymonline.[4][3][2] The OED has a set form of words defining or stating something from 1581, when it was still used as a Latin word.[5][2]

Semantic evolution

A prescription or recipe is from 1706.[5][2][3] In mathematics, a rule expressed in symbols is from 1796,[5][3] and in chemistry, the symbols showing the constituents of a compound, from 1842 in Etymonline, 1846 in the OED and Barnhart.[2][5][3] Carlyle's French Revolution (1837) gave it the disparaging sense of a rule or custom followed slavishly.[3][2][5] A form of words reconciling different views is from 1905,[5] and in motor racing, the class of a racing car, from 1927.[5][2] A baby's liquid food based on milk is a later sense.[6]

Timeline

  • 1618 – a ceremonial form of words.[4]
  • 1706 – a recipe.[5][3]
  • 1796 – in mathematics.[5][3]
  • 1837 – a rule slavishly followed.[3][5]
  • 1846 – in chemistry.[5][3]
  • 1927 – in motor racing.[5][2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (mathematics) A rule or relationship expressed in symbols.
  2. (chemistry) A set of symbols showing the elements in a compound.
  3. A method or plan for achieving something: a formula for success.
  4. A fixed form of words used in a ceremony or procedure.
  5. A list of ingredients from which something is made.
  6. Liquid food for babies, made to replace breast milk.

Word family

  • formulaic
  • formulaically
  • formulary
  • formulate
  • formulation
  • formulize
  • empirical formula

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 d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press