neutrality

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English neutralite,^[2][3] borrowed from Middle French neutralité^[4][3][5][6] or directly Medieval Latin neutrālitās,^[4][3][6][2] from Latin neutrālis (“neutral; of neuter gender”),^[3][7][5] from neuter (“neither the one nor the other”).^[3] The French word meant the state of being on no side from the end of the 14th century,^[4] and according to Klein it was introduced into French by Froissart;^[7] the Medieval Latin word is recorded in British sources for an intermediate state from the 12th century and for political neutrality from the late 14th.^[4] The OED compares early modern German neutralitet (1439), Spanish neutralidad (1534) and Italian neutralità (before 1535).^[4] It is related to neutral.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

An intermediate state, neither one thing nor the other; middle ground: about 1475, in John Capgrave's Life of Saint Katherine.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Caxton used the word in 1480 for the neutral party in a dispute, especially the towns or states that stayed out of a war, a sense that lasted until the early 19th century.^[4][3] The political sense, a policy of taking no part in a war between other states, is recorded from before 1513,^[4] and the personal sense, impartiality or the absence of decided views, from 1561.^[4][3] Johnson (1755) defined it first as a state of neither friendship nor hostility.^[8] Later the word was applied to the neutral character of a place in wartime (1745),^[4] and in chemistry to being neither acid nor alkaline, or electrically neutral (1770).^[4][9]

Timeline

• c. 1475 – middle ground, an intermediate state.^[4][2]
• 1480 – the neutral party in a dispute or war (obsolete by 1827).^[4][3]
• before 1513 – abstention from a war between other states.^[4]
• 1561 – impartiality, the absence of decided views.^[4][3]
• 1659 – grammar: the fact of being of the neuter gender (obsolete by 1883).^[4]
• 1745 – the neutral character of a place in wartime.^[4]
• 1770 – chemistry: being chemically or electrically neutral.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being neutral; refusal to take sides in a dispute or contest: The referee's neutrality was never questioned.^[9][6][4]
2. The policy or condition of a state that takes no part in a war between other states.^[6][4]
3. The neutral status of a place, such as a port, in wartime.^[4][6]
4. (chemistry, physics) The condition of being neither acid nor alkaline, or of having no electric charge.^[9][4]
5. (obsolete, 1480–1827) The neutral parties or powers in a dispute or war, collectively.^[6][4]

Word family

• antineutrality
• nonneutrality
• armed neutrality

Related words

• neutral
• neuter
• neutralize

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins