pulmonary

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin pulmōnārius (“of the lungs”),^[2][3][4][5] perhaps under the influence of French pulmonaire.^[6][7] In classical Latin pulmōnārius meant having a lung disease; it meant good for the lungs in the 4th century, and of the lungs by 1661.^[2] It is formed from pulmō (“lung”) and -ārius.^[2][8][9] Pulmō is cognate with Ancient Greek πλεύμων (pleúmōn, “lung”), beside which Greek also had πνεύμων (pneúmōn),^[10][9] and with Lithuanian plaučiai (“lungs”).^[7][10][8] Etymonline and Barnhart trace these to Proto-Indo-European *pleumon- (“lung”), from the root *pleu- (“to flow, float, swim”):^[7][6][10] the lungs would be "the floaters", because the lungs of a slaughtered animal float in water while the heart and liver sink.^[7][6][10] Klein compares English lights for the lungs, named for their lightness.^[10][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to the lungs: 1668, in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.^[2][8] Barnhart and Etymonline date it from 1704, in John Harris's Lexicon Technicum.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Its uses in anatomy and medicine came early: pulmonary was a noun for a blood vessel of the lungs from 1707, and it described diseases of the lungs from 1708.^[2] From 1712 it was also used of people with lung disease, at first especially tuberculosis.^[2] In zoology it described breathing by means of lungs (1787, translating French pulmonaire) and organs that resemble lungs, such as the breathing cavity of snails and slugs (1792).^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "belonging to the lungs", quoting Arbuthnot on the pulmonary artery.^[11] In the mid 17th century pulmonary was also a noun for the plant lungwort.^[5][8]

Timeline

• 1668 – of or relating to the lungs.^[2][8]
• 1704 – in John Harris's Lexicon Technicum.^[6][7]
• 1707 – noun, a pulmonary blood vessel.^[2]
• 1708 – of a disease, affecting the lungs.^[2]
• 1712 – of a person, suffering from lung disease.^[2]
• 1787 – of breathing, done by means of lungs.^[2]
• 1792 – resembling or acting as a lung.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to, or affecting the lungs: a pulmonary infection.^[12][8][2]
2. Having lungs or organs like lungs; resembling or working as a lung.^[12][8][2]
3. Carried on by the lungs: pulmonary breathing.^[8][2]

Noun

1. (obsolete) The plant lungwort.^[5][8]

Word family

• cardiopulmonary
• pulmonary valve
• pulmonary tuberculosis
• pulmonary vein

Related words

• float
• pneumonia
• pulmonate
• pulmonic
• lights
• flow

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c d e Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins