Etymologically
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infinite

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈɪnfɪnɪt/ (UK); /ˈɪnfɪnɪt/, /ˈɪnfənɪt/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English infinit, borrowed from Old French infinit (“endless, boundless”) and directly borrowed from Latin infinitus (“unbounded, unlimited, countless”),[2][3][4] from in- (“not”) and finitus (“bounded, limited”) (see finite).[3][2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Eternal, limitless, and extremely great in number: about 1380, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius;[2] the late 14th century in Etymonline.[3]

Semantic evolution

Hoad dates the sense unlimited in number from the 14th century, now archaic, and having no limit or end from the 15th century.[6] In a loose sense, exceedingly great, it is from about 1385.[7] The noun, that which is infinite, is from the 1580s.[3] Infinitesimal is an 18th-century formation.[6] In mathematics, greater than any assignable quantity is a technical sense.[8][9]

Timeline

  • c. 1380 – limitless.[2]
  • c. 1385 – very great.[7]
  • 1413 – having no end.[7]
  • 1580s – the infinite (noun).[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Limitless or endless in space, extent or size.
  2. Very great in amount or degree: infinite patience.
  3. (mathematics) Greater than any assignable quantity.

Noun

  1. (the Infinite) God.

Word family

  • infinitely
  • infiniteness
  • infinitize
  • noninfinite
  • superinfinite
  • semi-infinite
  • infinitesimal
  • infinitude
  • infinitive
  • infinity
  • finite
  • finish

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins