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outer

Etymology and origin of the English word outer

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1380

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈaʊtə/ (UK); /ˈaʊtɚ/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is a new comparative formed from out and the comparative suffix -er, on the model of inner,[2][3][4] replacing utter, from Old English ūterra (“outer”), comparative of ūt (“out”), which by about 1400 had lost its connection with out and come to mean complete or total.[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

On the outside: about 1380, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and 1385, in Troilus and Criseyde;[2] the late 14th century in Etymonline.[3]

Semantic evolution

External to the mind or soul, belonging to the objective world, is from about 1386.[6] The outer man, the body or outward appearance, is from before 1845, after inner man.[6] Outer space is from 1901, in H. G. Wells's The First Men in the Moon,[2] or 1845 in Etymonline.[3] As a noun, the outer is the part of a target outside the inner rings (1862).[6][7] In Australia, the outer is the unsheltered area of a sports ground.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1380 – outter, in Chaucer.[2]
  • c. 1386 – external to the mind.[6]
  • 1862 – the outer of a target.[6]
  • 1901 – outer space, in Wells.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. On or near the outside; external.
  2. Further from the centre or middle: the outer suburbs.
  3. Of the physical or objective world, not the mind.

Noun

  1. The outermost ring of a target, or a shot that hits it.

Word family

  • outerness
  • outercoat
  • outercourse
  • outerwear
  • come-outer
  • out-and-outer
  • Outer Mongolia
  • outer space
  • out
  • utter
  • outermost
  • inner
  • outward

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Outer.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/outer. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·