key

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kiː/^[1]

key¹ lock opener

Etymology

The lock opener is inherited from Middle English keie, inherited from Old English cǣg, cǣge,^[2][3][4] a word of unknown origin whose only sure cognate is Old Frisian kēi.^[2][5][4] Barnhart, Merriam-Webster and Etymonline compare Middle Low German keie “lance, spear”, perhaps from a Germanic base meaning “to cleave”, as in German Keil (“wedge”).^[3][6][2][7] Liberman reconstructs *kaig-jo-, originally “a pin with a twisted end”, from a root meaning “crooked, twisted” found mainly in North Germanic, and concludes that it reached English and Frisian from Scandinavia; the same root survives in a northern dialect adjective key “twisted”.^[8][9] Etymonline notes that the modern pronunciation is a northern variant that prevailed from about 1700; earlier it was often pronounced “kay”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

An instrument for opening locks: Old English cǣg, before 725,^[3] or before 1000 in the OED,^[10] used literally and figuratively for a solution or explanation.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The power of the keys in the church, after Matthew 16:19, is from before 900.^[10] The musical sense was first “tone, note”, in the mid-15th century; in music theory it developed in the 17th century, probably translating Latin clāvis (“key”), Guido's term for the lowest note of a scale.^[2] A lever of a keyboard instrument is from 1513.^[11] A piece that holds other parts together is from the 1520s, and an explanation or solution from about 1600.^[2] The verb “to fasten with a wedge” is from the mid-14th century, “to regulate the pitch” from the 1630s, “to enter data on a keyboard” by 1958, and “to scratch a car with a key” by 1986.^[2] The adjective “crucially important” is from 1913, perhaps reinforced by key move in chess problems, from 1827.^[2]

Timeline

• before 725 – Old English cǣg.^[3]
• before 900 – the keys of the church.^[10]
• mid-14th century – verb, to wedge.^[2]
• mid-15th century – a musical note.^[2]
• 1513 – a key of a keyboard instrument.^[11]
• c. 1600 – a solution, explanation.^[2]
• c. 1700 – pronunciation /kiː/ prevails.^[2]
• 1913 – adjective, crucial.^[2]
• 1958 – verb, to enter data.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A notched metal implement turned to open or close a lock; a similar device for winding.
2. A means of access or control: the key to success.
3. A set of answers; an explanatory table or legend.
4. A button or lever pressed on a keyboard or instrument.
5. (music) A system of notes related to a tonic; tonality.
6. A pin or wedge that locks parts together.

Adjective

1. Of crucial importance.

Verb

1. To lock; to fasten with a key or wedge.
2. To adjust or adapt to: keyed to.
3. To enter data by means of a keyboard.

Word family

• keyboard
• keyhole
• keynote
• keystone
• keyword
• keyed
• keyless
• passkey

key² low island

Etymology

The island is an alteration of Spanish cayo (“shoal, reef”),^[2][3][12] from Taíno cayo (“small island”),^[2][3][6] also borrowed as cay.^[4][12] The spelling was influenced by an older English key, a variant of quay from Old French kai, recorded from 1306 for a wharf.^[3][2][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A low island, sandbank or reef: 1697,^[3][10][13] or 1693 in Merriam-Webster Unabridged.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word is used especially of the islands of the West Indies and the coast of Florida,^[4] as in the Florida Keys, which gave the Key lime its name.^[4]

Timeline

• 1306 – key, a wharf.^[10]
• 1697 – a low island.^[3][10]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A low offshore island or reef, especially in the Gulf of Mexico; a cay.

Related words

• key card
• key ring
• key signature
• keel
• cay
• quay

Usage notes

Key in drug slang, a kilogram of a drug, is a third word, shortened from kilogram or kilo, from the 1960s.^[12][13]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Liberman, Anatoly (2008), An Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology: An Introduction, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
10. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
12. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
13. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster