inflow

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English inflouen, formed from Middle English in- + flouen.^[2][3][4] In its first records it translates Latin influō.^[2] The noun is formed from English in + flow.^[3][5][4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a verb, to flow in: before 1425, in a translation of Guy de Chauliac's surgery, of fluids in the body.^[2] The OED's first record of the verb is later, from Hobbes in 1651.^[3] As a noun, the act of flowing in or what flows in: 1839 in Etymonline and Merriam-Webster Unabridged,^[5][7] and 1848, in Bailey's Festus, in the OED.^[3] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1645–55.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The same translation of Chauliac also uses the verb for one cause exerting influence over another, where another version has haþ more influence.^[2] The OED records it in astrology, for a star's influence, from 1652 to 1670, and that sense has died out.^[3][4][7] Hobbes used the verb transitively in 1651, for causing something to flow in, the only record of that use.^[3] The noun, by contrast, is recorded only from the 19th century and matches influx in sense, literal and figurative.^[3][5] Dictionaries now illustrate it with money and goods as readily as with water and air.^[7][4]

Timeline

• before 1425 – verb, to flow in; to exert influence.^[2] The OED's first record of the sense "to flow in" is from 1882.^[3]
• 1651 – verb, transitive, to cause to flow in (a single record).^[3]
• 1652 – verb, in astrology, to exert astral influence (last record 1670).^[3]
• 1839 – noun, the act of flowing in, or what flows in.^[5][7] The OED's first record is from 1848.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of flowing in; an influx.^[9][7][3]
2. Something that flows in, such as air, water or money: a sudden inflow of cash.^[9][7]
3. The amount or rate of flowing in.^[9]

Verb

1. To flow in.^[7][4][3]
2. (obsolete) Of a star or planet, to exert influence.^[7][3][4]

Related words

• flow
• influx
• outflow

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins