Etymologically
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metaphysical

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Pronunciation

  • /ˌmɛtəˈfɪzɪkəl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English metaphisicalle,[2][3][4] borrowed from Medieval Latin metaphysicālis,[5][2][6] partly also formed in English from Middle English metaphisik, metaphysic, and the suffix -al.[4][7] The Medieval Latin adjective is recorded from before 1250, in Albertus Magnus, and is formed from metaphysica (“metaphysics”) and -ālis.[5][6] Metaphysica is formed from meta- and physica (“physics”), probably after Byzantine Greek μεταφυσικά (metaphusiká);[5] it goes back to the title Ancient Greek τὰ μετὰ τὰ φυσικά (tà metà tà phusiká, “the (works) after the Physics”), given to a group of Aristotle's treatises.[8][4] Klein and Etymonline note that the name was given by Andronicus of Rhodes about 70 BC because those books followed the ones on physics, and that it was later misread as "the science of what is beyond the physical".[8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to metaphysics: about 1454, in R. Pecock's Folewer to Donet.[5] Etymonline dates the form metaphisicalle to the early 15th century.[4]

Semantic evolution

Beside its philosophical sense, the word was used from the late 16th century of the immaterial and the supernatural: Marlowe used it in 1590 of a power above the laws of nature,[5] and Shakespeare's "metaphysical aid" in Macbeth meant supernatural help.[6] From the 1640s it was also used disparagingly of reasoning that was too subtle or abstract;[5][4] between 1728 and 1827 it could mean simply fanciful or imaginary.[5][6] In literary criticism, Pope (before 1744) and then Johnson applied it to Donne, Cowley and other 17th-century poets for their learned conceits and abstruse imagery;[5][4] the noun Metaphysical, one of these poets, is recorded from 1887.[6] In the 20th century, in Wittgenstein and the logical positivists, a metaphysical statement was one that cannot be verified by experience (1922),[5][9] and art historians used it for the Italian painting movement founded in Ferrara in 1917, after Italian metafisico.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1454 – of or relating to metaphysics.[5]
  • 1577 – immaterial, incorporeal, as opposed to physical.[5]
  • 1590 – supernatural, beyond the laws of nature, in Marlowe.[5]
  • 1646 – of reasoning, excessively subtle or abstract.[5]
  • 1728 – fanciful, imaginary (obsolete after 1827).[5]
  • before 1744 – of certain 17th-century poets, in Pope.[5]
  • 1887 – noun, a metaphysical poet.[6]
  • 1922 – in philosophy, not verifiable by experience.[5]
  • 1958 – of the Italian Metaphysical school of painting.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of, relating to or based on metaphysics: a metaphysical question about free will.[9][6][5]
  2. Relating to what lies beyond the physical world; transcendent or supernatural.[6][5]
  3. Highly abstract, subtle or hard to understand.[9][5]
  4. In logical positivism, of a statement that cannot be tested by experience and is therefore held to be meaningless.[9][5]
  5. Of or relating to certain 17th-century English poets, such as Donne, Herbert and Marvell, known for intellectual conceits and elaborate imagery.[9][5][6]
  6. (archaic) Fanciful, imaginary.[6][5]

Noun

  1. A metaphysical poet of the 17th century.[9][6]

Word family

  • metaphysically
  • hypermetaphysical
  • nonmetaphysical
  • antimetaphysical
  • unmetaphysical

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins