Etymologically
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This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:27. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈprəʊ.faɪl/, US /ˈproʊ.faɪl/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian profilo (“a drawing in outline”), now proffilo,[2][3][4] from profilare (“to draw in outline”),[2][3] from pro- (“forth”) and filare (“to spin, draw a line”),[2][3] from Late Latin fīlāre (“to spin, draw out a line”),[2][5] from fīlum (“thread”).[2][6] The verb is from the noun or from Italian profilare.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A drawing of the outline of something, especially a face seen from the side: 1638 in Merriam-Webster,[5] 1656 in Blount's Glossographia in Barnhart and the OED,[3][7] and the 1650s in Etymonline.[2]

Semantic evolution

The actual outline or contour of something, especially of the face, is from 1664,[7] the 1660s for a side view in Etymonline,[2] and in profile from before 1668.[7] In architecture and engineering a sectional drawing is a profile from 1669.[7] A biographical sketch or character study is from before 1734,[3][7] and has been common in journalism since about 1920.[7] A characteristic manner or attitude, as in keep a low profile, is from 1961,[7] and the AHD gives the sense “degree of public notice”.[8] The verb meant “to draw in profile” from 1715,[2][7] and “to write a sketch of a person” from 1948.[2] Profiling by police, the use of characteristics to identify suspects, is a later sense.[5]

Timeline

  • 1638 – an outline drawing.[5]
  • 1656 – in Blount's Glossographia.[3][7]
  • 1664 – the outline of a face.[7]
  • 1715 – verb, to draw in profile.[2][7]
  • before 1734 – a biographical sketch.[3][7]
  • 1948 – verb, to write a profile.[2]
  • 1961 – an attitude, as in low profile.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A side view of something, especially of the human head; a drawing of this.
  2. An outline or contour.
  3. The degree to which someone is noticed by the public: a high profile.
  4. A short biographical article about a person.
  5. A set of data describing a person or group, such as a user's details on a website.

Verb

  1. To draw or describe in profile.
  2. To write or broadcast a profile of.
  3. To pick out people as suspects by their characteristics.

Word family

  • profiler
  • profilometer
  • high profile
  • low profile

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin