popular

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈpɒp.jə.lə/, US /ˈpɑː.pjə.lɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English populer (“commonly known, public”),^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman populer and Old French populeir,^[5][4] and directly borrowed from Latin populāris (“belonging to the people; democratic”),^[2][3] from populus (“the people”),^[2][4] the source of people,^[2][6] probably of Etruscan origin.^[4][7][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Public, commonly known”: the early 15th century,^[2] probably before 1425.^[3] The OED's first quotation, a legal sense, “concerning or open to all the people”, as in a popular action, is from 1490.^[8]

Semantic evolution

“Of or belonging to the common people” is from 1548^[8] or the 1540s.^[2] “Suited to ordinary people, easily understood”, as in popular science, is from 1573,^[3][8] and hence, of prices, “low, affordable”, from 1859.^[2][8] “Well liked, admired by the people” is from about 1600^[2] or 1608.^[3] Of art, songs and entertainment, “liked by people in general”, it is from 1819.^[2] Popularize meant “to cater to popular taste” in 1593 and “to make popular” from 1797.^[3] The Popular Front is from 1936, first in France,^[2] and popular capitalism from 1979.^[8]

Timeline

• early 15th century – public, commonly known.^[2]
• 1490 – open to all the people, in law.^[8]
• 1548 – of the common people.^[8]
• 1573 – suited to ordinary people.^[3][8]
• 1608 – well liked.^[3]
• 1819 – of songs and entertainment.^[2]
• 1859 – of prices, low.^[2][8]
• 1936 – Popular Front.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Liked or admired by many people.
2. Liked by friends and acquaintances; sought after.
3. Of or carried on by the people as a whole: popular opinion.
4. Suited to the taste or understanding of ordinary people.
5. Of prices, low; affordable.

Word family

• popularly
• antipopular
• nonpopular
• overpopular
• popularise
• pseudopopular
• semipopular
• pop

Related words

• people
• populace
• population
• populous
• populist
• pueblo

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press