polarization

Etymology

It is formed from English polarize + -ation,^[2][3][4][5] and in its first, optical sense it follows borrowed from French polarisation,^[2][3][6][7] a term the French physicist Malus used in 1811.^[2] Polarize is from French polariser, coined by Malus as a term in optics,^[3][2] from New Latin polāris (“polar”), the source of polar.^[3][2] The Shorter Oxford traces the French word to pôle, the English pole.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In optics, the action of polarizing light, or the property of being polarized: 1812, in the Journal of Natural Philosophy.^[2][8] Etymonline gives the same year for the sense "state of having different properties on different sides",^[3] and Merriam-Webster dates the word's first sense to 1812 too.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a term of optics, borrowed with the French theory of Malus.^[2][3] In the 19th century it was carried over to electricity: from 1839, in Grove, it named the opposing electromotive force that builds up at the electrodes of an electrolytic cell, and since 1866 the inducing of electric or magnetic polarity in general.^[2][8] Chemists used it from 1845 for the optical activity of a sugar solution and, since 1905, for its measurement,^[2] and since 1928 physicists have used it for the alignment of the spins of subatomic particles.^[2][8] A figurative sense, the sharpening of a difference between two things or the division of people into two sharply opposed groups or opinions, is recorded from 1862.^[2][8] Etymonline dates figurative use to 1871 and the application to social and political groups to 1945.^[3]

Timeline

• 1812 – the polarizing of light; the property of being polarized.^[2][3][6]
• 1839 – the opposing electromotive force at the electrodes of an electrolytic cell.^[2][8]
• 1845 – the optical activity of a sugar solution.^[2]
• 1846 – the arrangement of molecules in a definite direction (now obsolete).^[2][8]
• 1862 – figurative, the sharpening of a difference; division into two opposed groups or opinions.^[2][8] Etymonline dates the figurative use to 1871.^[3]
• 1866 – the inducing of electric or magnetic polarity.^[2][8]
• 1928 – the alignment of the spin axes of subatomic particles.^[2][8]
• 1945 – of social and political groups, a sharpening of their differences.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The action of polarizing, or the state of being polarized; the condition of having polarity.^[6][9]
2. (physics) The process by which the vibrations of light or other electromagnetic radiation are confined to particular directions; the property of being so confined, or its extent or direction.^[9][6][2]
3. (physics) The partial separation of positive and negative electric charge in a body, as in a dielectric.^[2]
4. (physics) The opposing electromotive force that builds up at the electrodes of an electrolytic cell.^[2]
5. The division of a group or society into two sharply opposed camps; the sharpening of a difference between two things: the growing polarization of the electorate.^[2][3]

Word family

• depolarization
• repolarization
• polarization charge

Related words

• polarize
• polar
• pole
• polarity
• bipolar

References

1. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins