multiplier

Etymology

It is formed from Middle English multiplien (“to multiply”) + -er,^[2][3][4] that is, the verb multiply with the agent suffix -er.^[5][6][7][8] The verb is from Old French multiplier, also multeplier, recorded from the early 12th century,^[5] from Latin multiplicō (“to increase”),^[5][6] from multiplex (“having many folds, manifold”), from multus (“much, many”) and -plex (“-fold”), from Proto-Indo-European *plek- (“to plait”).^[6] The OED compares Middle French multiplieur, recorded in 1533, and, for the arithmetical sense, the earlier English noun multipliant.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person or thing that multiplies or makes something increase: before 1470, in Malory's Morte Darthur.^[5] Etymonline dates the word to the late 15th century,^[6] Dictionary.com to 1425–75,^[8] and Merriam-Webster to the 15th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In late Middle English a multiplier was also an alchemist, one who claimed to multiply gold and silver by transmutation, and hence, as a term of abuse, a maker of counterfeit coins; this sense lasted until the 16th century.^[5][7][4] The MED also records multiplier of wordes for a deceiver who misused words.^[4] The arithmetical sense, the number by which another is multiplied, appears in 1543 in Robert Recorde's Ground of Artes,^[5] in the 1540s according to Etymonline.^[6] Johnson (1755) gave both senses, "one who multiplies or increases the number of any thing" and "the multiplicator in arithmetick".^[9] From the end of the 18th century the word was used for devices that build up an electrical or magnetic effect,^[5] later for a geared fishing reel (1847) and a calculating machine (1875).^[5] In 1936 Keynes used it in economics for the factor by which a change in spending produces a larger change in income.^[5]

Timeline

• before 1470 – a person or thing that multiplies or increases something.^[5]
• before 1500 – an alchemist who claimed to transmute metals; a counterfeiter (obsolete by 1585).^[5][4]
• 1543 – in arithmetic, the number by which another is multiplied.^[5] Etymonline dates it to the 1540s.^[6]
• 1660 – an animal that breeds fast or in large numbers (obsolete, rare).^[5]
• 1795 – a device for increasing an electrical or magnetic effect.^[5]
• 1847 – in angling, a geared reel.^[5]
• 1875 – an instrument for performing multiplications.^[5]
• 1907 – the multiplier onion.^[5]
• 1936 – in economics, in Keynes's General Theory.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person or thing that multiplies or increases something.^[10][2][5]
2. In arithmetic, the number by which another number, the multiplicand, is multiplied: In 6 × 47, the multiplier is 6.^{[10][2][11][5]}
3. A device that increases or intensifies an effect, such as a photomultiplier.^[10][2][11]
4. In economics, the ratio between a change in income and the change in investment or spending that causes it.^[10][5]
5. A machine or circuit that multiplies figures.^[2][5]
6. In angling, a reel geared so that the spool turns faster than the handle.^[5]
7. (obsolete, before 1500–1585) An alchemist who claimed to multiply gold or silver; a counterfeiter of coins.^[5][7][4]

Word family

• photomultiplier
• electron multiplier

Related words

• multiply
• multiplicand
• multiplication
• multiple
• multiplex

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
4. ^ 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)
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 y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin