poetic

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French poetique (“of poetry”), now poétique, and its source borrowed from Latin poēticus (“creative; belonging to poetry”),^[2][3][4] from Ancient Greek ποιητικός (poiētikós, “capable of making, creative; of poets or poetry”),^[2][4][3] from ποιητής (poiētḗs, “maker, poet”), the source of poet, and the suffix -ικός (-ikós).^[2][3] Klein relates the Greek adjective to ποιητός (poiētós, “made”), the verbal adjective of ποιέω (poiéō, “to make”),^[4][5] which the American Heritage Dictionary traces to Proto-Indo-European *kʷei-.^[6] Etymonline allows that the English word may instead be formed from English poet + -ic, influenced by the French.^[5] The older English adjective was poetical, from the late 14th century.^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or belonging to poets or poetry: 1490, in Caxton's translation of the Eneydos.^[2] Etymonline and Dictionary.com date the word only to the 1520s,^[5][7] and the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English to the mid 16th century.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

Early on the word could also mean fictitious or imaginary, a sense now obsolete.^[2] In the 17th century it was applied to a person who writes poetry (before 1634), later to anyone with a poet's sensibility,^[2] and to works composed in verse (1656).^[2] Swift used it in 1731 for an elevated style proper to poetry,^[2] and Pope in 1742 for something celebrated in poetry or fit to be its subject.^[2] The phrase poetic justice dates from the 1670s,^[5] and poetic licence from 1733, after the earlier lycence poetycall (1530).^[5] As a noun, poetic has meant the same as poetics since 1698;^[2] the plural poetics is recorded from 1727 in Etymonline.^[5] In linguistics the adjective appears from 1961, chiefly in the phrase poetic function.^[2]

Timeline

• 1490 – of poets or poetry.^[2]
• before 1634 – that writes poetry; later, having a poet's sensibility.^[2]
• 1656 – composed in verse.^[2]
• 1670s – poetic justice.^[5]
• 1698 – noun, the theory of poetry, poetics.^[2]
• 1731 – elevated in style, like poetry.^[2]
• 1733 – poetic licence.^[5]
• 1742 – celebrated in poetry; a fit subject for it.^[2]
• 1961 – in linguistics, poetic function.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to poetry or poets.^[10][3][2]
2. Having the qualities of poetry; lyrical, expressive or elevated in style: a poetic description of the harbour at dawn.^[10][3][2]
3. Written in verse.^[10][3][2]
4. Having a poet's sensibility or gift of expression.^[3][2]
5. Celebrated in poetry, or fit to be its subject.^[3][2]

Noun

1. The theory or principles of poetry; poetics.^[2][8]

Word family

• poetically
• pseudopoetic
• antipoetic
• nonpoetic
• poeticism
• poeticize
• unpoetic
• poetic justice

Related words

• poem
• poet
• poetics
• poetry
• poesy
• poetical

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 m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
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. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins