highlighter

Etymology

It is formed from English highlight + -er, an agent noun from the verb highlight, to make prominent or draw attention to.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The verb is itself a conversion of the noun highlight, first a term of painting for the brightest parts of a subject.^[2][4] The OED compares the trade-mark spelling “Hi-liter” with the adjective hi.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A broad-tipped marker pen that overlays printed text with a transparent colour: 1963, in the ALA Bulletin of the American Library Association.^[2][4] Merriam-Webster dates the pen sense to 1964,^[7] and Dictionary.com to 1965–70.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The pen was first sold in the United States under the trade mark “Hi-liter”, registered in the mid-1960s; by the mid-1970s the ordinary spelling highlighter was spreading as a generic term.^[5][3] The fluorescent pens became popular in offices and among readers, and the verb highlight took on the new sense "to mark with a highlighter", recorded from the same 1963 source as the noun.^[5][2] From 1966 the noun was also used for a cosmetic that brings out features such as the eyes or cheekbones,^[2] a use that follows the older make-up sense of highlight, a patch of pale or bright make-up, recorded from 1890.^[2] In American prison slang of the 1970s a highlighter was a political leader or spokesman among the prisoners.^[8]

Timeline

• 1963 – a marker pen with transparent, usually fluorescent ink.^[2][4] Merriam-Webster gives 1964.^[7]
• 1966 – a cosmetic used to emphasize the eyes or cheekbones.^[2]
• 1976 – in American prison slang, a political leader among prisoners.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A marker pen with a broad felt tip and bright, transparent ink, used to mark passages of a text so that they stand out but stay legible: She ran a yellow highlighter over the key dates in her notes.^{[7][9][2][10]}
2. A cosmetic cream or powder applied to bring out features of the face, such as the cheekbones or eyes.^{[9][7][2][10]}

Related words

• highlight

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Knowles, Elizabeth; Elliott, Julia, eds. (1997), The Oxford Dictionary of New Words, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin