middleweight

Etymology

It is formed from English middle + weight,^[2][3][4][5] after heavyweight and lightweight.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A boxer who competes in the weight class between welterweight and light heavyweight: 1847, in Bell's Life in London.^[2][6] Etymonline gives 1842, for a boxer or jockey of a weight between lightweight and heavyweight,^[3] while Merriam-Webster's Collegiate gives 1889 and Dictionary.com 1870–75.^[7][5]

Semantic evolution

The word began in boxing and spread to other sports with weight classes, such as wrestling.^[2][8][6] From 1878 it was also an adjective for the class or its competitors.^[2] In 1895 it was first used of any person, animal or thing of average weight, and the adjective could mean average or middling from 1904, often figuratively, of complexity, consequence or intellectual weight.^[2] The limits of the class have varied: Merriam-Webster gives a maximum of 160 pounds for professional boxers and 165 for amateurs,^[7][6] and the Shorter Oxford 71–75 kg in amateur boxing.^[4]

Timeline

• 1847 – a boxer in the class between welterweight and light heavyweight.^[2][6]
• 1878 – adjective, of or in this weight class.^[2]
• 1895 – a person, animal or thing of average weight.^[2]
• 1904 – adjective, of average weight, often figuratively, of middling importance.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A boxer in the weight class above welterweight and below light heavyweight, professionally up to 160 pounds: She won the title at middleweight.^[8][7][6][2]
2. A competitor in a similar class in other sports, such as wrestling.^[8][6][4]
3. A person or thing of average weight.^[6][2]

Adjective

1. Of or in the middleweight class: a middleweight bout.^[2][4]
2. Of average weight or importance; middling.^[2]

Related words

• heavyweight
• lightweight
• welterweight

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin