Etymologically
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model

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:45. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈmɒd.əl/, US /ˈmɑː.dəl/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French modelle, modern modèle,[2][3][4] from Italian modello (“a model, mould”),[2][5] from Vulgar Latin *modellus,[3][6] from Latin modulus (“a small measure, standard”), a diminutive of modus (“manner, measure”),[2][3][7] the source of mode,[3][6] from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to take appropriate measures”).[2][8] German Modell and Dutch model are from French or Italian.[2] Trench points out that the diminutive sense once went constantly with the word.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A likeness made to scale; an architect's set of designs: 1575,[3][10][4] or 1570 in Merriam-Webster Unabridged.[7]

Semantic evolution

A person or thing that serves as a pattern to imitate is from 1593[10] or the 1630s.[2] A three-dimensional representation of a structure is from 1615.[10] An artist's model, a living person serving as the type of a figure, is by the 1690s, and a fashion model from 1904.[2] A particular design of car is a model from 1900, as in the Model T of 1908.[2] A simplified description of a system, especially a mathematical one, is from 1913,[10] and the verb “to devise a model of” from 1965.[10] The verb “to fashion in clay or wax” is from the 1660s,[2] and “to display clothes as a fashion model” from 1915.[2] The adjective “worthy to serve as an example” is from 1813,[2] and model railway by 1864.[2]

Timeline

  • 1575 – an architect's designs.[3][10]
  • 1593 – a pattern to imitate.[10]
  • 1615 – a three-dimensional representation.[10]
  • 1690s – an artist's model.[2]
  • 1813 – adjective, exemplary.[2]
  • 1900 – a design of car.[2]
  • 1904 – a fashion model.[2]
  • 1913 – a simplified description of a system.[10]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A small object, usually built to scale, representing a larger one.
  2. A preliminary version from which a final product is made; a style or design of a product: the latest model.
  3. A person or thing that serves as an example to imitate.
  4. A person who poses for an artist or photographer; a person who displays clothes.
  5. A schematic description of a system, used to study it.

Verb

  1. To make a model of; to shape in a soft material.
  2. To plan or fashion according to a model.
  3. To display clothes by wearing them.

Adjective

  1. Serving as a model; worthy of imitation.

Word family

  • modeler
  • remodel
  • mode
  • module
  • modulus
  • mould
  • modest
  • moderate
  • modify

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 m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  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 Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press