plastic

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈplæs.tɪk/, /ˈplɑː.stɪk/, US /ˈplæs.tɪk/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin plasticus, perhaps through French plastique,^[2][3] from Ancient Greek πλαστικός (plastikós, “fit for moulding; of moulding”),^[4][2] from plastós “moulded, formed”, from plássein “to mould, form”.^[4][2] It is related to plaster, plasma and -plasty.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Characterized by moulding or giving form to matter: 1632 in the OED and Barnhart, in Ben Jonson's The Magnetick Lady,^[6][2] the 1630s in Etymonline.^[4] MWU gives 1624.^[7] The noun, the art of modelling figures, is from 1598.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Causing the growth of natural forms is from 1646,^[6] and capable of being moulded, or of taking a new form, from 1711 in Barnhart and 1791 in Etymonline.^[2][4] The surgical sense, repairing structure, is from 1837–1839, as in plastic surgery.^[4][5][2] The noun, a solid substance that can be moulded, is from 1905, first of dental moulds,^[4][2] and the main modern sense, a synthetic material, from 1909, when Leo Baekeland used it of Bakelite.^[4][5][2] Made of plastic is also from 1909,^[4] and counterculture slang gave it the sense “false, superficial” (1963).^[4] Plastic explosive is from 1894,^[4] and plastic for credit cards is a later sense.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 1598 – noun, the art of modelling.^[6]
• 1632 – moulding, giving form.^[6][2]
• 1711 – easily moulded.^[2]
• 1839 – plastic surgery.^[4][2]
• 1894 – plastic explosive.^[4]
• 1905 – noun, a mouldable substance.^[4][2]
• 1909 – a synthetic material.^[4][2]
• 1963 – false, superficial.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A light, strong synthetic material made from polymers that can be shaped when soft.
2. (informal) Credit cards.

Adjective

1. Made of plastic.
2. Easily shaped or moulded.
3. Relating to moulding or modelling, as in sculpture: the plastic arts.
4. (informal) False or artificial.

Word family

• plastically
• plasticky
• bioplastic
• antiplastic
• ceroplastic
• euplastic
• fluoroplastic
• neoplastic

Related words

• plaster
• plasma
• plasticity

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins