neolithic

Etymology

It is formed from English neo- + -lithic,^[2][3][4] or neo- (“new”), -lith (“stone”) and -ic,^[5][6] coined by John Lubbock, later Baron Avebury.^[5][7][6] The elements go back to Ancient Greek νέος (néos, “new”) and λίθος (líthos, “stone”).^[7][8][9] The OED compares French néolithique, recorded as an adjective from 1866 and as a noun from 1902.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the later part of the Stone Age, marked by ground or polished stone tools: 1865, in John Lubbock's Prehistoric Times.^[2][6][5][4]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline describes the original sense as belonging to the age of highly finished and polished stone implements.^[5] Ayto places it among the 19th-century terms for subdivisions of the Stone Age, with paleolithic.^[10] The noun, the Neolithic period, is recorded from 1878, and a Neolithic person from 1921.^[2] Since 1934 the adjective has also been used disparagingly of anything outdated or primitive, like stone age.^[2][11]

Timeline

• 1865 – of the later Stone Age.^[2][6][4]
• 1878 – noun, the Neolithic period.^[2]
• 1921 – noun, a person of the Neolithic period.^[2]
• 1934 – outdated, primitive.^[2][11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to the latest period of the Stone Age, after the Mesolithic, marked by polished stone tools, the beginnings of farming and pottery.^[12][4][2]
2. (disparaging) Belonging to a past age; outdated or primitive.^[2][11]

Noun

1. The Neolithic period, usually with the.^[12][2]
2. A person who lived in the Neolithic period.^[2]

Related words

• paleolithic
• mesolithic
• lithic
• monolith
• megalith
• lithography

Usage notes

The word is usually capitalised as Neolithic, though Barnhart and Merriam-Webster Unabridged also give it in lower case.^{[12][2][6][4]} The Shorter Oxford records the phrase Neolithic Revolution.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c 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 Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins