max

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mæks/^[1]

Etymology

It is a clipping of maximum.^[2][3] The verb, “to reach the maximum level”, is from the noun,^[3] or, in Etymonline's view, from maximize and related words.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

At some American colleges, a maximum score or achievement, especially in an examination: 1851.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

As an abbreviation written before a noun, “maximum”, it is from 1886,^[5] and the general noun, a maximum, from 1911, especially in to the max, “to the limit, totally”, chiefly North American.^[5] A maximum-security prison is a max from 1968.^[5] As an adverb, “at the most”, it is from 1976,^[5] American colloquial.^[3] The verb is American: to serve the full length of a prison sentence, to max out, from 1871,^[5] and “to reach the maximum level” by 1986.^[4]

Timeline

• 1851 – a maximum score.^[5][6]
• 1871 – max out, to serve a full sentence.^[5]
• 1886 – abbreviation for maximum.^[5]
• 1911 – a maximum, and to the max.^[5]
• 1976 – adverb, at the most.^[5]
• 1986 – verb, to reach the maximum.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (informal) The maximum: pushed the engine to the max.

Adjective

1. (informal) Maximal.

Adverb

1. (informal) At the most: an hour, max.

Verb

1. (informal) To reach one's limit, as of endurance, often with out.
2. (informal) To use something to its limit: maxed out the credit card.

Word family

• max out

Related words

• maximum
• maximal
• maximize
• minimum

Usage notes

A different max, recorded from 1811 to the mid-19th century, meant gin;^[5][3] its origin is unknown,^[3] although Etymonline takes it as apparently short for French maxime.^[4]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster