gravity
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈɡrævəti/, /ˈɡrævɪti/ (UK); /ˈɡrævət̬i/ (US)[1]
Etymology
It is borrowed from Middle French gravité or directly borrowed from Latin gravitās (“weight, heaviness, seriousness”),[2][3][4][5] from gravis (“heavy”) (see grave),[2][3] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *gwere- (“heavy”).[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
Weighty dignity, seriousness: 1505 in MWU, 1509, in Barclay's Ship of Fools, in Barnhart.[5][2]
Semantic evolution
Influence or authority (1534) and a title of respect (1618) were early senses, now obsolete.[6] The seriousness of a situation is from 1519.[6] Physical weight and the force that makes objects fall towards the Earth are from the 1620s–1641,[3][2] and specific gravity is from 1666, in Boyle.[2] The Century Dictionary (1902) notes that careful writers keep gravitation for the force of attraction and gravity for its effect on Earth.[3]
Timeline
- 1505 – solemnity, dignity.[5]
- 1519 – seriousness of a situation.[6]
- 1641 – the force of gravity.[2]
- 1666 – specific gravity.[2]
Modern meaning
Noun
- The force that attracts a body towards the centre of the Earth or another body with mass.
- Extreme importance or seriousness: the gravity of the situation.
- Solemnity of manner.
Word family
- gravitation
- graviton
- microgravity
- nongravity
- supergravity
- acceleration of gravity
- center of gravity
- gravity cell
Related words
- grave
- gravid
- gravitate
- grief
- aggravate
References
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press