parabolic

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English parabolik,^[2][3] borrowed from Late Latin parabolicus (“allegorical”),^[4][5][2] recorded in the 4th century,^[4] from Ancient Greek παραβολικός (parabolikós, “figurative”), a Hellenistic Greek word,^[4][6][5] from παραβολή (parabolḗ, “comparison”),^[4][3][6] the source of parable and parabola.^[3][7] The Greek noun means literally "a throwing beside", from παρά (pará, “beside”) and the stem of βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”).^[3] The geometrical sense comes from the noun parabola,^[7][3][8] and the Latin word was used of the parabola by 1686.^[4] The OED compares French parabolique and German parabolisch, each used first of metaphorical speech and later in geometry.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Figurative, allegorical: c. 1449, in Reginald Pecock's Repressor, which speaks of parabolik speche.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The word first described figurative speech, then (from 1669) anything of the nature of a parable.^[4][5] The geometrical sense, "shaped like a parabola", is recorded from 1649,^[4] though Etymonline and Dictionary.com date it to about 1700.^[3][8] It is now the main sense, used of parabolic mirrors and reflectors,^[9][10] while the sense "figurative" is rare.^[4] In astronomy, after German mathematical usage of 1871, parabolic space was Euclidean space.^[4] As a noun, a parabolic was a parabolic curve or object (1657, rare).^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1449 – figurative, metaphorical.^[2][4]
• 1649 – shaped like or relating to a parabola.^[4]
• 1657 – noun, a parabolic curve or object.^[4]
• 1669 – of the nature of a parable; allegorical.^[4]
• 1872 – of space, Euclidean.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to or shaped like a parabola: a parabolic dish antenna.^[9][10][4]
2. Shaped like a paraboloid, as a reflector or mirror.^[9]
3. Of the nature of or expressed in a parable; allegorical.^[10][9][4]

Word family

• parabolically
• parabolicalism
• nonparabolic

Related words

• parabola
• parable
• paraboloid
• ballistic

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster