Etymologically
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muscular

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 00:30. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈmʌs.kjʊl.ə/[1]
  • US: /ˈmʌs.kjə.lɚ/[1]

Etymology

The OED takes it as borrowed from Medieval Latin muscularis, recorded from 1545 or earlier, from mūsculus (“muscle”) and the suffix -āris;[2][3] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster form it from the Latin noun with the English suffix -ar,[4][5] and the Shorter Oxford and the “Oxford Dictionary of English” see it as an alteration of the earlier musculous, with the suffix -ar put in place of -ous.[6][7] Latin mūsculus means literally "little mouse", a diminutive of mūs (“mouse”), because the shape and movement of some muscles, such as the biceps, were thought to look like a mouse.[4][8] The OED compares French musculaire, recorded from 1698.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to the muscles, or performed by them: 1670, in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society;[2][5] Etymonline dates it to the 1680s.[4]

Semantic evolution

The word replaced musculous, used in the same senses from the early 15th century, which the OED describes as now largely superseded by it.[2][4] The sense "made of muscle" followed in 1673,[2] and Johnson (1755) still defined it only as "performed by muscles".[9] The everyday sense "brawny, having well-developed muscles" is recorded from 1736, in James Thomson's Liberty,[2][4] and since 1728 the word has been used in medicine of diseases affecting the muscles;[2] muscular dystrophy is attested from 1877.[4] The phrase muscular Christianity, a faith devoted to good works and social issues rather than asceticism, appears in 1857 and is associated with the novelist Charles Kingsley, who disliked the term;[4][2] the OED's first figurative use of this kind is from 1853.[2]

Timeline

  • 1670 – relating to or performed by the muscles.[2][5]
  • 1673 – composed of muscle.[2]
  • 1728 – in medicine, affecting the muscles.[2]
  • 1736 – having well-developed muscles, strong.[2][4]
  • 1853 – figurative, of Christians devoted to vigorous good works.[2]
  • 1857 – muscular Christianity.[4]
  • 1877 – muscular dystrophy.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Having well-developed muscles; strong and brawny: a muscular rower.[3][5][2]
  2. Of, relating to or made of muscle: muscular tissue.[3][5][2]
  3. Performed by or involving the muscles.[5][2][9]
  4. Of a disease, affecting the muscles, as in muscular dystrophy.[5][2]
  5. Vigorous and forceful in style or action.[5][2]

Word family

  • muscularity
  • muscularly
  • unmuscular
  • nonmuscular
  • intramuscular
  • submuscular
  • intermuscular
  • epitheliomuscular

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  9. ^ 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.