innermost

Etymology

It is formed from English inner + -most,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} in Middle English innermost, also innermast and innermest.^[7] The OED compares hindermost.^[2] The first element is from Old English inra, the comparative of inne (“inside”).^[4] The older superlative is inmost.^[4] Middle English also had innerest, from about 1200, and innermore.^[4] Johnson thought innermost less proper than inmost.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Farthest in, and figuratively most secret: about 1350, in a Middle English prose Psalter, where innermast thinges glosses Latin interiora.^[7] Etymonline dates it to the mid-14th century,^[4] and the OED to 1413, in the Pilgrimage of the Soul.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word joined the older inmost in both the literal and the figurative sense, and the Middle English Dictionary records it already as a noun, the inmost part.^[7] The OED's noun sense, the innermost part, dates from 1674,^[2] and the Shorter Oxford calls it now rare.^[5] In Johnson's dictionary (1755) the word is illustrated by Newton's innermost rings, a physical sense,^[8] while today it is used chiefly of the most private thoughts and feelings.^[9][5]

Timeline

• c. 1350 – farthest in; figuratively, most secret.^[7][4]
• 1413 – most or furthest within, inmost.^[2]
• 1674 – noun, the innermost part.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Farthest inside; central: the innermost room of the palace.^[9][3][2]
2. Most private or intimate; deepest: She never shared her innermost fears.^[9][5]

Noun

1. The innermost part; one's inmost being.^[3][2]

Related words

• inner
• inmost
• hindermost

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d 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)
8. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins