Etymologically
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garbage

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 12:58. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈɡɑː.bɪd͡ʒ/ (UK); /ˈɡɑɹ.bɪd͡ʒ/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is of uncertain origin,[2][3][4] probably Anglo-Norman, like many words in early cookery books.[3][5][6][7] The MED suggests a connection with garbelage, the removal of refuse from spices (see garble),[2][3] and Etymonline considers Old French garbe, a sheaf of wheat, from Germanic, though the sense connection is difficult.[3] Word Origins notes parallels in medieval French and Latin that may themselves be borrowed from English.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The entrails or waste parts of an animal used for food: 1422 in Barnhart, about 1430 in the OED.[2][9]

Semantic evolution

Refuse in general, filth, is from 1583,[9] the 1580s in Etymonline,[3] and worthless or foul writing from 1592.[9] Craigie notes that in American usage garbage is mainly kitchen and vegetable waste.[3] Garbage collector is from 1872 and garbage can from 1901.[3] In computing, useless or incorrect data, as in garbage in, garbage out, is from 1964.[9]

Timeline

  • 1422 – offal.[2]
  • 1583 – refuse, filth.[9]
  • 1592 – worthless writing.[9]
  • 1872 – garbage collector.[3]
  • 1964 – in computing.[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (chiefly North American) Food waste and other household rubbish; trash.
  2. Worthless or nonsensical ideas or talk; nonsense.
  3. (computing) Useless or incorrect data.

Word family

  • garbageman
  • garbo
  • garbology
  • garbage can

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press