gigantic

Etymology

Most dictionaries take it as an English formation on from Latin gigant- (“giant”), the stem of gigās, with the suffix -ic;^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} Merriam-Webster and Collins derive it from Ancient Greek γιγαντικός (gigantikós),^[8][9] a Greek word of the same formation.^[2] Barnhart lists both, and also a change of suffix from the earlier gigantine (1605), and finds the immediate source hard to settle.^[10] The Latin noun is from Ancient Greek γίγας (gígas, “giant”),^[11][2] which is probably of Pre-Greek origin.^[3][11] See giant.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or belonging to a giant or giants: 1612, in Michael Drayton's Poly-Olbion.^[2][8] Etymonline dates it to the 1610s,^[3] Dictionary.com to 1605–15.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Gigantic replaced the earlier gigantine and gigantical (both about 1600) and giantlike (1570s).^[3] Its first sense, "of giants", died out in the late 18th century.^[2][4] From 1651, in Hobbes's Leviathan, it described people or their stature as giant-like,^[2] though Barnhart notes that this need not be an extension of the first sense.^[10] From 1797, in Ann Radcliffe's The Italian, it was used of things, actions and ideas that greatly exceed ordinary size, the main modern sense.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1612 – of or belonging to giants (obsolete by 1774).^[2]
• 1651 – of people, giant-like in stature.^[2]
• 1797 – of things, huge, enormous.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Extremely large; enormous or huge: a gigantic oak tree.^[9][8][2]
2. Like a giant in size, stature or strength.^[8][4][2]
3. (obsolete, 1612–1774) Of or relating to giants.^[2][4][8]

Word family

• gigantically
• giganticness
• gigantism

Related words

• giant
• gigantesque
• giga-

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 e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.