overweight

Etymology

The noun and the adjective are formed from over- and the noun weight, and the verb from over- and the verb weight.^[2][3][4][5] The OED compares Middle Dutch overwicht (modern overwicht (“overbalance”)), Middle Low German ȫverwicht (“excess weight”) and overvægt (“excess weight, predominance”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun, weight beyond what is specified, allowed or suitable: 1552, in Richard Huloet's Abcedarium Anglico Latinum;^[2][4] Dictionary.com dates it to 1545–55.^[5]

Semantic evolution

By about 1577 the noun also meant too great a weight, now mostly figuratively,^[2] and between 1626 and 1889 it meant greater weight than something else, preponderance: Johnson (1755) gave only this sense, quoting Bacon's "sinking into water is but an overweight of the body".^[2][6] The excess-weight sense now survives mainly in horse racing, of weight carried above what the handicap demands.^[2] The adjective "too heavy", of things, is recorded from 1621 in Thomas Mun's Discourse of Trade,^[2][4] 1638 in the Collegiate and the 1630s in Etymonline;^[7][3] of people it dates from 1899, in a medical journal, as does the noun for an overweight person.^[2] The noun for the condition, obesity, followed in 1917.^[2][3] The verb, to give too much weight to, is recorded from 1613 in Florio's Montaigne (1603 in the Collegiate),^[2][4][7] and "to overload" from 1811.^[2] In finance, from 1978, a fund or investor is overweight in a sector it holds more of than its share of the market.^[2][8] In the Northumberland and Durham coal trade the overweight was the excess of the average weight over the standard weight in a fortnight, and in North Yorkshire the verb meant to overload.^[9]

Timeline

• 1552 – noun, weight beyond what is allowed.^[2][4]
• a1577 – noun, too great a weight.^[2]
• 1613 – verb, to give too much weight to.^[2][4]
• 1621 – adjective, too heavy.^[2][4]
• 1626 – noun, preponderance (obsolete by 1889).^[2]
• 1811 – verb, to overload.^[2]
• 1899 – adjective, of a person: heavier than is healthy; noun, an overweight person.^[2]
• 1917 – noun, obesity.^[2][3]
• 1978 – (finance) holding a disproportionate share of a sector.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Of a person: weighing more than is normal or healthy for one's height and build; too fat.
2. Of a thing: heavier than is allowed or usual: The airline charged extra for overweight suitcases.
3. (finance) Holding more of a particular kind of investment than its share of the market would suggest.

Noun

1. Weight beyond what is required or allowed; extra weight.
2. The condition of being overweight; obesity.
3. A person who is overweight.

Verb

1. To give too much weight or importance to: The report overweights recent events.
2. To put too much weight on; to overload.
3. (finance) To invest more heavily in a particular sector than its share of the market.

Related words

• underweight
• overbalance
• preponderance

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 p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)