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major

Etymology and origin of the English word major

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
before 1300
Borrowed from
Latin maior via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*meg-)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈmeɪ.dʒə/, US /ˈmeɪ.dʒɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English maiour (also majour), borrowed from Latin māior (“greater”), the irregular comparative of magnus (“great, large”),[2][3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *meg- (“great”).[2][4] The Shorter Oxford adds that French majeur may have been an influence.[5] The military noun is from French major, short for sergent-major, from Medieval Latin major (“chief officer”).[3][2][6] It is a doublet of mayor,[3] and related to majesty and majority.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Great, greater: probably before 1300, first in names such as Inde maiour, “Greater India”.[3] Etymonline gives about 1300, “more important, principal”.[2]

Semantic evolution

The major premise in logic is from 1530.[8][9] The sense “greater in number or extent” is from the 1590s,[2] and the musical sense from 1694.[3][2] The army rank is recorded from 1579 by Barnhart[3] but only from the 1640s by Etymonline,[2] borrowed from French, where the sergent-major was then a much higher rank than now.[2][6] A person of full legal age was a major from 1615 to 1836.[8] In American colleges the main subject of study was a major by 1890, and the verb major in followed in 1910[2] or 1913.[10] Old-fashioned schools still call the elder of two brothers Smith major.[7] The sense “serious, very great”, as in a major mess, dates from the 1940s.[7]

Timeline

  • before 1300 – greater (Inde maiour).[3]
  • 1530 – the major premise.[8]
  • 1579 – an army rank.[3]
  • 1590s – greater in number.[2]
  • 1694 – in music.[3]
  • 1890 – a main subject of study.[2]
  • 1910 – verb, major in.[2]
  • 1940s – serious.[7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Greater in importance or rank; principal.
  2. Great in scope, size or effect.
  3. Serious; requiring great attention.
  4. (music) Of a scale, key or chord with a major third above the root.
  5. (US) Of a student's main field of study.

Noun

  1. A military officer ranking above a captain and below a lieutenant colonel.
  2. (US) A student's main field of study, or a student specializing in it.
  3. A person of full legal age.

Verb

  1. (US, with in) To study as one's main subject.

Word family

  • majorly
  • majority
  • majordomo
  • majorette
  • major depressive disorder
  • major piece
  • major general
  • major league

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 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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  9. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Major.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/major. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

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