global

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈɡləʊ.bəl/, US /ˈɡloʊ.bəl/^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English globe + -al.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Spherical”: 1640 in Merriam-Webster,^[4] 1676 in the OED,^[5] or the 1670s;^[2] the sense is rare.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

The meaning “embracing the totality of a group of items”, and “worldwide, pertaining to the whole globe”, is from 1892, after a sense development in French global.^[2][5] Global village is first attested in 1960, popularized if not coined by the Canadian educator Marshall McLuhan.^[2][5] Globalism and globalization are from 1959,^[5] the computing sense, “affecting a whole program or file”, from 1964,^[5] and global warming from 1977.^[5]

Timeline

• 1640 – spherical.^[4]
• 1892 – worldwide; total.^[2][5]
• 1959 – globalism, globalization.^[5]
• 1960 – global village.^[2][5]
• 1964 – in computing, affecting a whole file.^[5]
• 1977 – global warming.^[5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Of or involving the whole world; worldwide.
2. Including everything; comprehensive or total.
3. (computing) Applying to a whole program, document or file.
4. (rare) Shaped like a globe; spherical.

Word family

• globally
• globalisation
• globalism
• globalization
• globalize
• Global Positioning System
• global village
• global warming

Related words

• globe
• globular
• globule
• conglomerate

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b 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