nexus

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin nexus (“the action of binding; a bond, tie; a connected group”),^[2][3][4][5] a noun formed from nectō (“to bind, connect”) with the suffix of verbal nouns -tus.^[2][6] In Roman law the word also named a kind of legal obligation.^[2] The verb comes from Proto-Indo-European *ned- (“to bind, tie”).^[4][5] It is related to connect and annex.^[3][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A bond or link; a means of connection between things or parts: 1663, in Robert Boyle.^[2][3][8]

Semantic evolution

The sense "a connected group or series" followed in 1858,^[2] in the 19th century according to Hoad.^[9] In the 20th century the word was taken up by specialists: Otto Jespersen used it in 1924 for a group of words expressing a predicative relation,^[2][8] and cell biologists from 1962 for an area of close contact between two cell membranes.^[2] The sense "a central point, a focus or meeting place" is recorded from 1971.^[2] The plural is either nexus, as in Latin, or nexuses.^[10][8][11]

Timeline

• 1663 – a bond, link or connection, in Boyle.^[2][3][8]
• 1858 – a connected group or series.^[2]
• 1924 – grammar, a predicative group of words, in Jespersen.^[2]
• 1962 – cell biology, a junction between cell membranes.^[2]
• 1971 – a central point or focus.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A connection or link between people or things: the nexus between trade and diplomacy.^[10][8][2]
2. A connected group or series; a network.^[10][8][2]
3. A central point where things meet; a focus.^[2]
4. (grammar) A construction expressing a predicative relation, in Jespersen's term.^[8][2]
5. (cell biology) An area of close contact between the membranes of two adjacent cells.^[2]

Related words

• connect
• annex
• connection

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 o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press