lipid

Etymology

It is borrowed from French lipide,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} coined in 1923 by the French biochemist Gabriel Bertrand^[2][3][7] from Ancient Greek λίπος (lípos, “fat, grease”) and the chemical suffix -ide.^[3][7][4] Barnhart suggests that the spelling lipid, recorded from 1927, was perhaps formed independently in English from the Greek noun and the suffix -id.^[7] Etymonline traces the Greek word to Proto-Indo-European *leip- (“to stick, adhere”),^[3] and Barnhart compares Lithuanian lipti (“to paste”).^[7] Ayto notes the speculation that the same group of words for sticky substances is related to the Germanic verb behind leave.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Any of the large group of fats and fat-like compounds of living organisms that dissolve in organic solvents but hardly in water: 1925, in an article by W. R. Bloor in Chemical Reviews, at first in the form lipide.^[2][7][3] Merriam-Webster gives an earlier first known use, 1912,^[9] and Dictionary.com dates the word to 1920–25.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The word was coined as a scientific term and has kept its biochemical meaning.^[2][5] The French-style spelling lipide came first, but lipid is now the usual form and lipide is rare;^[5][9] the OED points to a 1952 note in Chemical & Engineering News on the origin of the now more common form.^[2] Merriam-Webster lists lipin and lipoid as other names for the same class of substances.^[9]

Timeline

• 1923 – the French lipide is coined by Gabriel Bertrand.^[2][7]
• 1925 – lipide, a fat or fat-like compound of living organisms.^[2][7][3] Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1912.^[9]
• 1927 – the spelling lipid.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any of a large group of organic compounds, including the fats, oils, waxes and sterols, that do not dissolve in water but dissolve in organic solvents, and that, with proteins and carbohydrates, make up much of the structure of living cells.^{[9][11][4][2]}

Word family

• lipidic
• glycolipid
• hyperlipidemia
• phospholipid

Related words

• lipo-
• liposuction
• lipoma

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins