Etymologically
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huge

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /hjuːdʒ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English huge, also hoge,[2][3] apparently borrowed from Old French ahuge (“extremely large, enormous; mighty”), also ahoge, in a shortened form,[4][5][6][7] of unknown origin.[5][3][7] Klein derives it from Old French a hoge “on high”, with a word of Germanic origin related to Old Norse haugr “mound”, but the other dictionaries call the origin unknown.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Extremely large: probably about 1150[5] or the mid-12th century.[4] The OED's first quotation is from before 1275.[9]

Semantic evolution

Of immaterial things it is from the 14th century,[9] and of persons, “very great in power or attributes”, from about 1400.[9] “Very numerous” is a rare sense from 1570.[9] An obsolete adverb, “hugely, immensely”, was used in the 15th century.[9] Compounds such as huge-bellied and huge-boned are from 1599.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 1150 – extremely large.[5]
  • 14th century – of immaterial things.[9]
  • c. 1400 – of persons.[9]
  • 1570 – very numerous.[9]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Extremely large in size or amount; enormous.
  2. Very great in scope or extent.

Word family

  • hugely
  • hugeness
  • overhuge
  • hugeous
  • enormous
  • vast
  • immense

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press