lattice

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English latis, also lattis,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French lattis, also latiz,^[4][5][2][6] from latte (“lath, board”), modern latte,^[4][5][7] which is of Germanic origin, from Frankish or another Germanic language;^[5][3][8] compare Old High German latta (“lath”), a relative of lath.^[5][3][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Latticework of wood or metal, used in windows: 1304, in building accounts from Chester that mention nails for the lattis.^[2][3] Etymonline dates the noun to about 1300; the OED's first record is the early Wycliffite Bible, before 1382.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The verb latisen, to furnish with a lattice, is recorded from 1427–28.^[3][4] In Middle English a latis could be a lattice window or a partition of latticework,^[2] and Chaucer uses the word in Troilus and Criseyde.^[10] From 1575 to 1735 a red lattice window, or a painted imitation of one, was the usual sign of an alehouse.^[4] Johnson (1755) reviewed several guesses at the etymology, including Junius's derivation from words meaning "a hindering iron".^[11] Word Origins notes that the regular criss-cross pattern of the word's meaning led to its many scientific uses:^[12] a regular arrangement of points in space, such as the atoms of a crystal, is recorded from 1895, the array of fuel and moderator in a nuclear reactor from 1945, and the mathematical sense, a partially ordered set, from 1933.^[4] In Cornwall lattice meant tin plate.^[13]

Timeline

• 1304 – latticework in windows.^[2][3]
• before 1382 – in the early Wycliffite Bible.^[4]
• 1427–28 – verb, to furnish with a lattice.^[3]
• 1575 – a red lattice as an alehouse sign (obsolete by 1735).^[4]
• 1657 – anything with an open interlaced structure.^[4]
• 1828 – heraldry, a charge representing latticework.^[4]
• 1895 – a regular arrangement of points, as in a crystal.^[4]
• 1933 – mathematics, a partially ordered set.^[4]
• 1945 – nuclear engineering, an array of fuel and moderator.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An open framework of crossed strips of wood or metal, used as a screen or for decoration: Roses climbed the lattice beside the porch.^[9][14][4]
2. A window, door or gate made of such a framework.^[9][14][4]
3. Something resembling such a framework, as a design or a heraldic charge.^[9][14][4]
4. (physics, chemistry) A regular arrangement of points or particles in space, as in a crystal.^[14][4]
5. (mathematics) A partially ordered set in which every pair of elements has a least upper bound and a greatest lower bound.^[4][14]

Verb

1. To furnish or enclose with a lattice.^[9][4]
2. To form into a lattice or give the look of a lattice to.^[9][4]

Word family

• latticed
• latticelike
• sublattice
• Bravais lattice
• lattice constant
• crystal lattice
• lattice girder
• space lattice

Related words

• lath
• latticework

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Skeat, W. W., ed. (1894), The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, vol. VI: Glossarial Index, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ 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)
14. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins