liquid

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈlɪk.wɪd/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English liquide, borrowed from Old French liquide (“liquid, running”) and directly from Latin liquidus (“fluid, liquid, moist”),^[2][3][4] from liquēre (“to be fluid”), related to līquī “to melt, flow”,^[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *wleikʷ- (“to flow, run”).^[2][3] It is related to liquor.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a substance, flowing, neither solid nor gaseous: 1382, in the Wycliffe Bible.^[7][3][2]

Semantic evolution

Of light or air, clear and bright like water, is from 1590,^[7] and of sounds, flowing and pure, from before 1637, in Ben Jonson.^[3][7] The noun first meant a liquid consonant, the sound of l or r, from 1530, translating Latin liquidae, itself from Greek hygrá;^[3][2] a liquid substance is from 1708.^[2][3] In finance, of assets easily turned into cash, it is from 1818, from earlier Scots law use for debts that had been proved.^[2] Barnhart dates this sense to 1879.^[3]

Timeline

• 1382 – flowing.^[7]
• 1530 – a liquid consonant.^[3]
• 1590 – clear, bright.^[7]
• 1708 – a liquid substance.^[2]
• 1818 – of assets.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A substance such as water or oil that flows freely and has no fixed shape.
2. (phonetics) A consonant such as l or r.

Adjective

1. In the form of a liquid; not solid or a gas.
2. Clear, bright and smooth: liquid eyes, liquid notes.
3. (finance) Easily turned into cash: liquid assets.

Word family

• liquidly
• liquidness
• liquidity
• liquid compass

Related words

• liquidate
• liquidation
• liquor
• liquefy
• liquify
• liqueur

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 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. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ 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 Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press