Etymologically
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pandemic

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /pænˈdɛmɪk/[1]
  • US: /pænˈdɛmɪk/[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek πάνδημος (pándēmos, “of or belonging to all the people, public”) with the English suffix -ic,[2][3][4][5] modelled on epidemic.[3][6] The Greek adjective is formed from παν- (pan-, “all”) and δῆμος (dêmos, “people, populace”),[2][6][1] and in Hellenistic Greek it was also used of diseases.[2] Wiktionary traces the second part to Proto-Indo-European *deh₂- (“to divide, share”).[1] Etymonline, the American Heritage Dictionary, Collins and Merriam-Webster take the word through Late Latin pandēmus,[6][7][8][9] which the OED instead treats as a parallel form, used in medical writing from the 4th century.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

General, universal, widespread, often in a disparaging sense: 1659, in J. Rogers.[2] The medical sense, of a disease spread over a very large area, follows in 1666, in G. Harvey's Morbus Anglicus,[2] which is also the first date in Barnhart and Merriam-Webster.[3][9]

Semantic evolution

In English the word was first a general adjective, "affecting all the people", and was soon applied mainly to disease, as a stronger counterpart of epidemic.[2][3] The OED distinguished it from epidemic, which may imply a smaller area.[6] A separate learned use, from Plato's contrast between the common and the heavenly kinds of love, gave the sense "relating to physical or sensual love", recorded from Shelley's translation of the Symposium (before 1822) and now rare.[2][10][9] The noun, a pandemic disease or an outbreak of one, is first recorded in 1832 in the OED,[2] about 1846 in Merriam-Webster,[9] and 1853 in Etymonline and Barnhart.[6][3]

Timeline

  • 1659 – general, universal, widespread.[2]
  • 1666 – of a disease, prevalent over a very large area.[2][3][9]
  • before 1822 – relating to sensual love, in Shelley.[2]
  • 1832 – noun, a pandemic disease or outbreak.[2]
  • 1853 – the noun's first date in Etymonline and Barnhart.[6][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of a disease, spreading over a wide geographical area and affecting a large proportion of the population: a pandemic strain of influenza.[9][8][2]
  2. Affecting most of the people in a country or in several countries; general, universal.[9][2]
  3. (rare) Relating to physical or sensual love, as opposed to spiritual love.[2][10][9]

Noun

  1. An outbreak of a disease over a very wide area; an epidemic of unusual extent.[9][8][2]

Word family

  • interpandemic

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press