moist

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English moiste,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French moiste (“damp, wet, soaked”),^[4][5][6] also Anglo-Norman moist and moste,^[6] now moite.^[6][3][7] The Anglo-Norman adjective is recorded from the second quarter of the 12th century.^[8] The origin of the French word is uncertain and disputed.^[6][4][9] Most dictionaries derive it from Vulgar Latin *muscidus (“mouldy”), an altered form of Latin mūcidus (“slimy, mouldy, musty”),^{[10][5][11][12]} from mūcus (“slime”),^[10][13][5] and take the change of form as due to the influence of musteus (“juicy, fresh, like new wine”), from mustum (“new wine”), the source of must.^{[10][11][5][7][12]} Ayto suggests that *muscidus shifted from "mouldy" to "wet" before it passed into French.^[13] Diez, followed by Weekley, derived the word from musteus alone,^[4][14] and Skeat listed both views together with a third, Hatzfeld's late form of mūcidus.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Slightly wet; not dry: in Barnhart in 1373,^[5] and in the OED from before 1382, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible.^[6] The OED's verb moist, to become moist, is recorded slightly earlier, perhaps before 1350, and may be borrowed from Anglo-Norman and Middle French rather than formed from the adjective.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word often meant "fresh, new": Chaucer used it of new, supple shoes and of fresh ale, and Langland of fruit,^{[6][14][3][12]} senses that Weekley traces to the Latin musteus.^[14] It was also used of juicy, succulent plants (from 1382) and of eyes wet with tears (about 1390).^[6] From Gower (before 1393) it named one of the four qualities of medieval science, opposed to "dry";^[6][11] Chaucer and Gower also used moist as a noun for that quality.^[2] Its sense "liquid, watery" lasted until the 17th century.^[6][11] Weather and climates have been moist since 1398, in Trevisa,^[6] and in medicine the word has described conditions with a discharge of fluid since the same year.^[6] Ayto notes that the derived adjective moisty existed from the 15th to the 17th century, and that musty is thought to be an alteration of it.^[13][9] In the 20th century it acquired a sexual sense (1958),^[6] and the Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins notes that it once topped a newspaper poll of the most disliked English words, though unlike damp it can be favourable, as of a cake.^[9]

Timeline

• 1373 – slightly wet, not dry.^[5]
• before 1382 – slightly wet; also of plants, juicy, fresh.^[6]
• c. 1387–95 – of a shoe, new and supple (now obsolete).^[6]
• c. 1390 – of beer, fresh; of eyes, wet with tears.^[6]
• before 1393 – one of the four elemental qualities; liquid, watery (obsolete by 1653).^[6]
• before 1398 – of a season or climate, wet, rainy.^[6]
• 1958 – sexually aroused.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Slightly wet; damp: Keep the soil moist until the seeds sprout.^[15][6]
2. Full of or bringing moisture; humid or rainy: a moist climate.^[15][6]
3. Of food, pleasantly soft and not dried out.^[6][9]
4. Of the eyes, wet with tears.^[6]
5. (medicine) Accompanied by a discharge of fluid, mucus or pus.^[6]
6. In ancient and medieval science, having the quality of wetness that was one of the four qualities of the elements, opposed to dry.^[11][6]
7. (obsolete) Juicy, succulent.^[11][6]
8. (obsolete) Liquid, watery.^[11][6]

Verb

1. (archaic or dialect) To moisten.^[11][6][16]

Word family

• moistly
• moistness
• moistful
• moistless
• overmoist
• semimoist
• moisten
• overmoisten

Related words

• moisture
• moisturize
• moisturizer
• mucus
• musty
• must

Usage notes

In Scots and in Yorkshire, Lancashire and Somerset dialect, moist was still used as a verb, to moisten, and in Lancashire as a noun for a fog or mist.^[17] In American slang moist has meant an alcoholic drink (from 1899), and on campuses "second-rate, bad".^[18]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
3. ^ a b c d Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
14. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
17. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
18. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com