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proportional

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Etymology and origin of the English word proportional

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1395 Chaucer, Franklin's Tale
Borrowed from
Middle French proporcionel via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin prōportiō

Pronunciation

  • UK: /prəˈpɔːʃ(ə)n(ə)l/[1]
  • US: /prəˈpɔːrʃ(ə)n(ə)l/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English proporcional, also proporcionel,[2] partly borrowed from Middle French proporcionel (“that is in proportion”), recorded in 1370–2 (now proportionnel), and partly borrowed from its source, Late Latin proportionalis (“that is in proportion”), used by Augustine and Boethius.[3][4] The Latin adjective is formed from prōportiō (“comparative relation, analogy”), the source of proportion, and the suffix -ālis.[3][4][5] Several dictionaries give only the Latin source.[6][7][8][9] The OED compares Catalan proporcional, Spanish proporcional and Italian proporzionale, all recorded from the 13th to 14th centuries.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun, a mathematical proportion: about 1395, in Chaucer's Franklin's Tale, a rare sense now obsolete.[3] As an adjective, being in due proportion, corresponding in degree or amount: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus.[3] Etymonline dates the adjective to the late 14th century, when it is implied in the adverb proporcionalli.[4]

Semantic evolution

The Middle English adjective meant having a particular correspondence to something in size, extent, degree or power.[2] The general sense "of or relating to proportion, relative" followed in 1561, and the mathematical sense, of quantities having the same ratio, in 1570, in Billingsley's translation of Euclid,[3] where the noun was also first used for each of the terms of a proportion.[3] Johnson (1755) defined the adjective as having a settled comparative relation to something.[10] In the 19th century the noun had passing senses in chemistry (1825–71) and for a proportionate part (1856–89).[3] The phrase proportional representation, representation in a legislature according to the numbers of voters rather than by region, is recorded by 1821.[4][6]

Timeline

  • c. 1395 – noun, a mathematical proportion (obsolete).[3]
  • before 1398 – adjective, in due proportion, corresponding in degree or amount.[3][4]
  • 1561 – of or relating to proportion; relative.[3]
  • 1570 – in mathematics, having the same ratio; noun, a term of a proportion.[3]
  • 1821 – proportional representation, in the political sense.[4]
  • 1825 – noun, in chemistry, a proportion (obsolete by 1871).[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Corresponding in size, amount or degree to something else; proportionate: The fine is proportional to the damage done.[11][8][12]
  2. (mathematics) Of variable quantities, having a constant ratio to one another.[11][12][3]
  3. Of, relating to, or used in working out proportions.[8][3]

Noun

  1. (mathematics) A number or quantity that is one of the terms of a proportion; in a/b = c/x, x is the fourth proportional.[11][8][3]
  2. (obsolete) A proportionate part; a relative quantity.[3][6]

Word family

  • proportionality
  • proportionally
  • subproportional
  • unproportional
  • disproportional
  • nonproportional
  • proportional representation
  • inversely proportional

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Proportional.” Etymologically, 26 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/proportional. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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