opulent

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French opulent (“rich, wealthy”) and directly borrowed from Latin opulentus (“rich, wealthy; grand, sumptuous”),^[2][3][4][5] also opulēns,^[2][6][7] which the Shorter Oxford, the Oxford Dictionary of English and Collins name as the source.^[8][9][10] Barnhart, who dated the word only to 1601, thought it partly a back-formation from opulence.^[11] The Latin adjective is formed with the suffix -ulentus from ops (“power, ability, aid; in the plural, resources, wealth”),^[2][7][12] which has the same base as opus (“work”).^[2][7] Etymonline traces these to Proto-Indo-European *op- (“to work, produce in abundance”),^[3] and Klein and Barnhart compare Ancient Greek ὄμπνη (ómpnē, “corn, food”), and Klein also Lithuanian apstùs (“copious”).^[7][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rich, wealthy: about 1518, in Barclay's translation of Mancinus.^[2][12] Hoad and Collins date the word to the 17th century, and Etymonline to about 1600.^[6][10][3]

Semantic evolution

The word first described wealthy people, and Johnson (1755) still gave only "rich; wealthy; affluent", with a quotation from Bacon about a mighty and opulent king.^[2][13] Hume used it in 1761 of what suggests wealth, the sense of showy luxury.^[2] Parallel to this, the word spread from money to abundance of other kinds: of mental resources from 1685, of flowers and scents from 1863, and of a person's full figure from 1882.^[2] French had the sense "abundant" in 1565 and "plump" in 1874.^[2] Between 1648 and 1862 it could also mean "yielding great wealth", which is obsolete.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1518 – rich, wealthy.^[2][12] Barnhart dates the word to 1601.^[11]
• 1648 – yielding great wealth, lucrative (obsolete by 1862).^[2]
• 1685 – rich in a quality or in mental resources.^[2]
• 1761 – suggesting wealth; sumptuous, ostentatiously luxurious.^[2]
• 1863 – of a flower or plant, rich in blossom or fragrance.^[2]
• 1882 – of a person's figure, plump, full.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having great wealth; affluent: an opulent family of shipowners.^[10][12][2]
2. Showing wealth; luxurious or sumptuous: a hotel lobby of opulent marble.^[10][2]
3. Plentiful or profuse; of a plant, rich in blossom or scent.^[10][12][2]
4. Of a person's figure, full or plump.^[12][2]
5. (obsolete, 1648–1862) Yielding great wealth; lucrative.^[2][8]

Word family

• opulently
• unopulent

Related words

• opulence
• opus
• operate
• copious
• optimism
• office

References

1. ^ 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 s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.