lateral

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin laterālis (“of or on the side of the body”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} partly through latéral, recorded in French from 1315.^[2][3][4] The Latin adjective was formed from latus (“side, flank”) with the suffix that became -al.^[2][7][8] The noun latus is of unknown origin according to the OED,^[2] and Etymonline quotes de Vaan's verdict that no good etymology is available;^[3] Klein and Merriam-Webster think it probably related to lātus (“broad, wide”), the source of latitude.^[9][7][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or at the side: probably before 1425, in an English translation of Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie, already with reference to the sides of the body;^[2][11] Etymonline dates it to the early 15th century,^[3] and Merriam-Webster to the 15th century.^[7] Dictionary.com dates the word only to 1590–1600.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The general sense "of or towards the side" spread into many technical fields: in mechanics, of forces acting at right angles to a line of motion (1599);^[2] in botany, of buds and branches growing from the side of a stem (1665, in Hooke's Micrographia);^[2] in crystallography (1816) and in phonetics, of a sound such as l made with the breath passing at the sides of the tongue (1867).^[2][12] Johnson (1755) defined it as growing out on the side or belonging to the side, citing branches and blood vessels.^[13] The anatomical sense of lying on either side of the median plane of the body is dated by Etymonline to 1722.^[3] A sense "existing or moving side by side", used especially of winds from the same quarter, appears in Chapman's Homer (1598) and is now rare.^[2][6] The noun, a side part or branch, is recorded from 1635,^[4][3] though Merriam-Webster dates it to 1578.^[7] In American football the lateral pass gave a noun (1934 in Etymonline) and a verb, to make such a pass (1930).^[3][2][7] Two 20th-century figurative uses followed: a lateral move in employment, to a post of equal rank (1941),^[2] and lateral thinking, solving problems by indirect and creative means (1969).^[2]

Timeline

• ?a1425 – of or at the side, in a translation of Guy de Chauliac.^[2][11]
• 1578 – the noun, in Merriam-Webster.^[7]
• 1598 – side by side, of winds.^[2]
• 1599 – (mechanics) acting at right angles to a line of motion.^[2]
• 1635 – the noun, a side part.^[4]
• 1665 – (botany) growing from the side of a stem.^[2]
• 1867 – (phonetics) of a sound such as l.^[2]
• 1930 – the verb, to make a lateral pass.^[2][7]
• 1941 – of a sideways move between jobs of equal level.^[2]
• 1969 – relating to lateral thinking.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Of, at, towards or coming from the side: The bridge was damaged by lateral forces during the storm.
2. (anatomy) Situated away from the middle line of the body or of an organ.
3. (phonetics) Of a consonant such as l: made with the air passing over one or both sides of the tongue.
4. Of a move to another job: at the same level of seniority.
5. Relating to lateral thinking; approaching a problem from an unexpected angle.

Noun

1. A side part, such as a side branch of a plant or a side channel of a pipe or drain system.
2. (phonetics) A lateral consonant.
3. (American football) A lateral pass.

Verb

1. (American football) To throw a lateral pass; to throw the ball sideways or backwards.

Word family

• laterally

Related words

• latitude
• collateral
• bilateral
• unilateral
• equilateral
• multilateral

References

1. ^ a b 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 t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.