percolate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin percōlātus, the past participle of percōlō (“to strain through, filter”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed from per- (“through”) and cōlō (“to strain, filter”), from cōlum (“sieve, strainer”).^[3][6][7][8] Barnhart and Etymonline add that it may in part be a back-formation from percolation, recorded from 1613.^[2][9] The Latin noun is also the source of colander.^[2][5][10] The noun percolate, a product of percolation, is either from percōlātum, the neuter of the participle, or formed from the verb.^[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make a liquid pass through a porous substance; to strain or filter: 1626, in Francis Bacon's Sylva Sylvarum.^[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

A figurative sense, to pass something on gradually or piecemeal, appears in Matthew Hale before 1676,^[3] and Etymonline dates figurative use to the 1670s.^[9] Johnson (1755) gave only "to strain", quoting Hale's Origination of Mankind: "The evidences of fact are percolated through a vast period of ages".^[11] The intransitive sense, of a liquid oozing or trickling through, followed in 1684, in Boyle,^[3][9] and its figurative use, of news or ideas spreading gradually, in 1854.^[3] Coffee entered the word's history in the late 19th century: coffee is said to percolate from 1881, and one percolates coffee in a percolator from 1959.^[3] The colloquial perk, to percolate coffee, is a shortened and respelled form of the verb, dated 1934 by Barnhart and 1922 by Merriam-Webster Unabridged.^[2][9][4] From 1962 the intransitive verb could mean "to become lively or active".^[3][12] In 19th-century American slang percolate also meant to stroll or wander about, perhaps a misuse of perambulate.^[13][3]

Timeline

• 1626 – to cause a liquid to pass through a porous body; to strain or filter.^[3][2]
• before 1676 – figuratively, to pass on or spread something gradually.^[3]
• 1684 – intransitive, of a liquid, to ooze or trickle through.^[3][9]
• 1735 – of a liquid, to permeate a porous body.^[3]
• 1853 – noun, a product of percolation.^[3]
• 1854 – intransitive, figuratively, to spread gradually.^[3]
• 1880 – in American slang, to stroll or wander.^[13] The OED's first example is from 1881.^[3]
• 1881 – of coffee, to be prepared by percolation.^[3]
• 1959 – to make coffee in a percolator.^[3]
• 1962 – to become lively or active.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make a liquid pass through a fine mesh or porous substance; of a liquid, to pass or trickle through: Meltwater percolated through the gravel.^[12][4][3]
2. To spread or permeate gradually: Word of the merger slowly percolated through the company.^[12][4][3]
3. To make coffee in a percolator; of coffee, to be made in one.^[12][4][3]
4. (US, informal) To become lively or active.^[12][3]

Noun

1. A product of percolation.^[12][4][3]

Word family

• percolation
• percolable
• percolative
• unpercolated

Related words

• percolator
• colander
• perk

Usage notes

Dictionary.com explains the pronunciation /ˈpɜr kyəˌleɪt/, with an intrusive y sound, as an analogy with words such as circulate and matriculate, whose spelling has a u after the k sound; where another vowel follows, as in percolate or escalate, the y is a hypercorrection.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b 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 e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com