organism

Etymology

The OED and Merriam-Webster take it as formed from English organ + -ism,^[2][3][4] and the OED compares Medieval Latin organismus, used in the 12th century of polyphony and since 1706 of organic structure, and French organisme, recorded from 1687.^[2] Barnhart and Etymonline derive it instead from organize and the suffix, on the model of pairs such as symbolize and symbolism.^[5][6] Barnhart argues that it was first formed in English, since the French word did not become current until the 19th century and organismo and organismo were borrowed from English then;^[5] the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English, however, take the later senses from French.^[7][8] Etymonline says that the sense "living being" first translated German Organismus, from medical Latin organismus.^[6] The noun organ goes back through Latin organum to Ancient Greek ὄργανον (órganon, “implement, tool; organ of the body”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *werg- (“to do”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Organic structure, organization: 1701, in Nehemiah Grew's Cosmologia Sacra.^[2] Barnhart dates this sense to 1664, in John Evelyn's Sylva,^[5] and Etymonline to the 1660s.^[6] Johnson (1755) defined it as "organical structure", quoting Grew.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, organic structure, became rare and is last recorded in 1890.^[2] From 1768 the word was used of a whole made of interdependent parts compared to a living being, as when society is called an organism.^[2][5] The sense "an individual living being, animal or plant" is recorded by Etymonline from 1825,^[6] by the OED from 1834^[2] and by Barnhart from 1842,^[5] and it is now the main meaning.^[10] In philosophy the word was used from 1925, in Whitehead, for the theory that everything is ultimately part of an organic whole.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 1664 – organic structure, in Evelyn's Sylva.^[5]
• 1701 – organic structure (obsolete by 1890).^[2]
• 1768 – a whole of interdependent parts likened to a living being.^[2][5]
• 1825 – a living animal or plant.^[6]
• 1834 – a living entity that carries out the processes of life.^[2]
• 1925 – philosophy, the theory of organic wholeness.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An individual living thing, such as an animal, plant, fungus or bacterium: Countless tiny organisms live in a handful of soil.^[10][2]
2. A whole made of interdependent parts, likened to a living being: She saw the old city as a single organism.^[10][2][7]
3. (philosophy) The theory that everything is ultimately an organic part of an integrated whole.^[2][7]
4. (obsolete, 1701–1890) Organic structure; organization.^[2][9]

Word family

• organismal
• organismically
• organismic
• macroorganism
• superorganism

Related words

• organ
• organize
• organic
• microorganism

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins