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hypertension

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Etymology and origin of the English word hypertension

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1863
Ultimate origins
Ancient Greek ὑπέρLatin tendō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin tensio
English tension
English hypertension

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌhaɪ.pəˈtɛn.ʃən/[1]
  • US: /ˌhaɪ.pɚˈtɛn.ʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English hyper- + tension,[2][3][4][5] and Merriam-Webster treats it as a word of the International Scientific Vocabulary.[6][7] The prefix means over, beyond or to excess, and comes from Ancient Greek ὑπέρ (hupér, “over, beyond”),[4][8] from Proto-Indo-European *upér (“over”).[4][8] Tension comes from French tension or directly from Latin tēnsiō (“a stretching”), from tēnsus, the past participle of tendō (“to stretch”), from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”).[4][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Abnormally high pressure of the arterial blood: 1893, in the British Medical Journal.[2][6] Etymonline dates the word, also written hyper-tension, to 1863, in medical use.[4]

Semantic evolution

The word was first a medical term for high pressure of a bodily fluid, above all of the blood;[2] essential hypertension is high blood pressure with no apparent cause.[2][6] From 1918 it was also used of the fluid inside the eye.[2] From 1936 it also meant a state of great nervous or emotional tension.[2][4]

Timeline

  • 1863 – first record, in medical use.[4]
  • 1893 – abnormally high arterial blood pressure.[2][6]
  • 1918 – high pressure of the fluid in the eye.[2]
  • 1936 – great nervous or emotional tension.[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Abnormally high blood pressure in the arteries.[6][10][2]
  2. The condition of having such blood pressure, with or without a known cause.[6][2]
  3. Abnormally high pressure of the fluid inside the eye.[2][3]
  4. A state of great nervous or emotional tension.[2][3]

Word family

  • hypertensive
  • antihypertension

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c 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 e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
  8. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Hypertension.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/hypertension. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·