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metrical

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Etymology and origin of the English word metrical

Pronunciation

  • /ˈmɛtɹɪkl̩/[1]

metrical1 of poetic meter; of measurement

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing, Derivation
First attested
1425 before 1425, translation of Higden's Polychronicon
Borrowed from
Latin metricus via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *me-
Etymology tree of metrical1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin metricus
English metrical
From the same root · metrical1
Latin metrica ← metricus

Etymology

The word for the sense of poetic meter is inherited from Middle English metrical,[2] borrowed from Latin metricus (“metrical”) with the suffix -al,[3][4][5][6] from Ancient Greek μετρικός (metrikós, “of or for meter”),[7][8][9][5] from μέτρον (métron, “measure, poetic meter”),[7][8][9][4] from Proto-Indo-European *me- (“to measure”).[7][8] The OED compares post-classical Latin metricalis (1532, in Luther) and Middle French metrical (about 1429),[3] and the Middle English Dictionary asks whether the word is from Old French.[2] Old English had meterlic in this sense.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or in meter: in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon made perhaps before 1425 and surviving in a manuscript from before 1475, which speaks of books "of the rewles of feete metricalle".[3][2] Barnhart dates it probably before 1425,[9] and Etymonline to the early 15th century.[7]

Semantic evolution

The word belonged first to verse.[3][2] The general sense "of measurement" followed in the 17th century: 1650 in the OED, in Wyberd's Tactometria,[3] and the 1640s in Etymonline.[7] Johnson (1755) gave only "pertaining to metre or numbers",[10] and his 1773 revision added "consisting of verses".[10] Modern dictionaries keep both main senses and treat metric as a variant.[11][4]

Timeline

  • before 1425 – of or in poetic meter, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon.[3][2][9]
  • 1650 – of or relating to measurement.[3] Etymonline dates this to the 1640s.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of, relating to or composed in meter, especially in poetry: a metrical version of the old ballad.[11][4][3]
  2. Of, used in or involving measurement.[11][4][3]

Word family

  • metrically
  • extrametrical
  • nonmetrical
  • unmetrical

metrical2 of the metric system

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing, Derivation
First attested
1797 Monthly Magazine
Borrowed from
French métrique
Ultimate origin
French mètre

Etymology

The word for the sense "of the meter as a unit" is borrowed from French métrique with the suffix -al,[3][12] the French adjective, recorded in 1795 in the phrase système métrique, being formed from mètre and -ique.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or based on the meter as a unit, in 1797, in the Monthly Magazine, earlier than metric in this sense (1862).[3]

Semantic evolution

This sense was soon overtaken by metric, and the OED and the Shorter Oxford call it rare.[3][12] Two narrower uses did not last: "one meter long", recorded only in Webster's dictionary of 1854, and in ophthalmology, in 1879, a way of grading lenses with the dioptre as the unit.[3]

Timeline

  • 1797 – of the meter as a unit; of the metric system.[3]
  • 1854 – one meter long.[3]
  • 1879 – in ophthalmology, graded in dioptres.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (rare) Based on the meter as a unit; metric.[3][12]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Metrical.” Etymologically, 6 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/metrical. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

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