irrigation

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin irrigātiō (“a watering, irrigating”),^[2][3][4] a noun of action from irrigō (“to lead water to; to water, flood”),^[2][4] the source of irrigate, formed from in- (“in, into”) and rigō (“to wet, moisten”).^[5][4][3] The origin of the Latin verb is uncertain:^[4] Klein connects it with Gothic 𐍂𐌹𐌲𐌽 (rign) and Old English regn, the source of rain,^[3] Etymonline cites Watkins for Proto-Indo-European *reg- (“moist”), and de Vaan suggests the root of regō (“to direct, lead”) or of rigeō (“to be stiff”).^[4] French had irrigation in the 15th century.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1612.^[6] The OED's earliest record is from 1617, in John Woodall's Surgions Mate, for the medical application of a stream of liquid to a part of the body;^[2] the general sense follows before 1618, in Sylvester, for a moistening or wetting in general.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word came into English in both a general and a medical sense, and Bacon used it in 1626 for supplying land with water by channels or streams;^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as "the act of watering or moistening", quoting Bacon.^[7] The agricultural sense later became the main one, and the OED notes that the general sense is now rare and felt as transferred from it.^[2][8] A figurative use, refreshment or fertilization, is recorded from before 1660.^[2][8] In 19th-century American and Australian slang, irrigation was a humorous name for alcoholic drink.^[9]

Timeline

• 1612 – first known use in Merriam-Webster.^[6]
• 1617 – the medical application of a stream of liquid to a part of the body.^[2]
• before 1618 – a moistening or wetting.^[2]
• 1626 – the watering of land by channels or streams.^[2]
• before 1660 – figurative, refreshment.^[2]
• 1856 – slang, alcoholic drink.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The artificial supply of water to land by canals, ditches, pipes or sprinklers, to help crops grow: The valley depends on irrigation from the river.^[6][2][8]
2. (medicine) The washing out of a wound or body cavity with a steady stream of liquid.^[6][2][8]
3. (rare) A moistening or wetting.^[2][8]

Word family

• irrigational
• nonirrigation
• preirrigation
• proirrigation
• overirrigation
• reirrigation
• subirrigation
• drip irrigation

Related words

• irrigate
• rain

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com