gregarious

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡɹɪˈɡɛə.ɹɪ.əs/ (UK); /ɡɹɪˈɡɛɚ.i.əs/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin gregarius (“belonging to a flock”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from grex (genitive gregis) “flock, herd”,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} a word formed by reduplication from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to gather”).^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of animals, living in flocks or herds.^[4][7][3]

Semantic evolution

From 1789 the word was applied to people inclined to seek company,^[4][7][3] which is now its main sense.^[2][6][1] Botany uses it of plants growing in open clusters.^[2][5][7][6]

Timeline

• 1668 – first recorded, of animals;^[7][5][3] Etymonline gives the 1660s.^[4]
• 1688 – gregariously, gregariousness.^[7]
• 1789 – of people, sociable.^[4][7][3]
• 1829 – in botany, growing in open clusters.^[7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Fond of company; sociable.
2. Of animals, living in flocks or herds.
3. (botany) Growing in open clusters, not matted together.
4. Of or relating to a flock or crowd.

Word family

• gregariously
• gregariousness

Related words

• egregious
• congregate
• aggregate

References

1. [1] [2] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. [1] [2] [3] [4] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. [1] [2] [3] [4] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press