invertebrate

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin Invertebrata (“the invertebrates, a former division of the animal kingdom”),^[2][3][4][5] modelled on French invertébrés, recorded as an adjective from 1800 and as a noun from 1807 or earlier.^[2][4] Barnhart ties the English word to Lamarck's use of the French term (1809) or to Cuvier's earlier one (1805).^[6] The scientific Latin name is made of in- (“not”), vertebra (“joint, especially of the spine”) and the plural ending -āta.^[2] The Latin noun is perhaps from vertō (“to turn”).^[7] Barnhart and Dictionary.com start instead from a New Latin adjective, New Latin invertebratus,^[6][8] as Merriam-Webster Unabridged does for the English adjective;^[5] Etymonline derives the adjective from the same prefix and vertebrātus, a word it cites from Pliny.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Having no backbone, of an animal, or relating to such animals: 1819, in the London Literary Gazette.^[2][7] Merriam-Webster Unabridged has a later first date for this sense, 1832.^[5] The noun follows in 1826, in Kirby and Spence's Introduction to Entomology.^[2][7][6]

Semantic evolution

The word was a zoologist's term first, for all the animals outside the vertebrates;^[2] the OED records Invertebrata in English as a division name from 1822, in Fleming's Philosophy of Zoology.^[2] The absence of a backbone then became a figure for lack of character, as with spineless: from 1867 the adjective meant feeble and lacking resolve; from 1869 the noun was a term of contempt for a weak person.^[2][9] From 1873 it was also applied to writing and music that lacks structure or force.^[2]

Timeline

• 1819 – adjective, lacking a backbone; relating to invertebrates.^[2][7]
• 1826 – noun, an animal without a backbone.^[2][7][6]
• 1867 – figurative adjective, lacking courage or strength of character.^[2][9]
• 1869 – figurative noun, a weak or despicable person.^[2][9]
• 1873 – of writing or music, lacking structure or force.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An animal with no backbone or internal skeleton.^[10][2][5]
2. A weak or indecisive person, used in contempt.^[5][2][3]

Adjective

1. Lacking a backbone or spinal column; of or relating to animals without one: invertebrate zoology.^[10][5][2]
2. Lacking courage or firmness of character; spineless.^[2][3]
3. Lacking structure or vigour; disorganized: an invertebrate plot.^[5][2]

Word family

• invertebracy
• invertebrateness

Related words

• vertebra
• vertebrate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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 Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins