offset

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈɒf.set/, US /ˈɑːf.set/^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound of off and set,^[2][3] formed after the verb phrase set off.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of setting off on a journey or course of action: before 1555 in the OED, about 1555 in Merriam-Webster.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

A short side shoot of a plant, as from a bulb, is from 1629,^[4] and something that springs from another, a branch or offshoot, from 1756;^[4] a spur of a mountain range is from 1833.^[4] The sense of a counterbalance, something set off against another, is from 1769,^[2] and the verb in this sense from 1792;^[2] Merriam-Webster dates the verb from 1673.^[3] Offset printing, in which the inked image is transferred to a rubber surface and then to paper, is recorded from 1906.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1555 – a setting off.^[4][3]
• 1629 – a side shoot of a plant.^[4]
• 1769 – a counterbalance.^[2]
• 1792 – to offset (verb).^[2]
• 1906 – offset printing.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Something that counterbalances or compensates for something else.
2. A printing method in which the inked image is transferred to a rubber surface and then to paper.
3. Something that branches off from another; an offshoot.

Verb

1. To counterbalance or compensate for: gains offset the losses.
2. To print by offset.

Word family

• photo-offset
• offset lithography

Related words

• set
• off
• offshoot

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press