Etymologically
Log in

neutrality

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 00:24. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • UK: /njuːˈtɹæləti/[1]
  • US: /nuˈtɹæləti/[1]

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

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