plasticity

Etymology

It is formed from English plastic + -ity;^[2][3][4] the OED compares the suffix -icity.^[2] Plastic comes from Latin plasticus, from Ancient Greek πλαστικός (plastikós, “fit for moulding”), from πλαστός (plastós, “moulded, formed”), the verbal adjective of πλάσσω (plássō, “to mould”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The quality of being plastic, the ability to be moulded or to take a permanent new shape: 1727, in S. Switzer's Practical Kitchen Gardiner.^[2][5] The revision of the OED moved the first record back from 1782–83,^[6][2] and Etymonline gives 1768, defining the early sense also as the power of giving form to matter.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word was soon used figuratively, of minds and characters that can be shaped,^[2][5] part of a wider habit of describing change and permanence in terms of softness, recorded from the late 18th century.^[7] In 1858 R. Owen used it in biology for an organism's adaptability to changes in its environment;^[2] the 1989 edition of the OED dated this sense from 1868.^[6] The biological sense now covers both the capacity of organisms with the same genes to develop differently^[5] and the brain's ability to change its neural connections through experience or after injury.^[2] In physics and engineering it names the ability of a solid to keep a shape it has been pressed into, as opposed to elasticity,^[5] and in art criticism the quality of painting that makes space and form look three-dimensional.^[8]

Timeline

• 1727 – the quality of being plastic, ability to be moulded.^[2][5]
• 1858 – in biology, an organism's adaptability to its environment.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality of being plastic; the capacity to be moulded, shaped or altered, also figuratively: the plasticity of a child's mind.^[8][5][2]
2. The ability of a solid to undergo a permanent change of shape under pressure and keep it, as opposed to elasticity.^[5][2]
3. (biology) The ability of an organism, or of a part of one, to adapt to changes in its environment; especially the capacity of organisms with the same genotype to develop differently, or the brain's capacity to form new neural connections: Neural plasticity helps patients recover after a stroke.^[5][2]
4. In painting, the quality of rendering space and form so that they seem three-dimensional.^[8]

Word family

• nonplasticity

Related words

• plastic
• plasma
• elasticity

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Mapping Metaphor with the Historical Thesaurus, University of Glasgow, mappingmetaphor.arts.gla.ac.uk
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins