Etymologically
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reflex

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Pronunciation

  • /ɹɪˈflɛks/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin reflexus (“a bending back, turning point”),[2][3][4][5] a verbal noun formed from reflex-, the past participial stem of reflectō (“to bend back”),[2][3] itself formed from re- (“back”) and flectō (“to bend”).[3] The OED thinks the early sense "reflected light" was perhaps modelled on Italian riflesso, and compares Middle French reflexe (1432) and Spanish reflejo;[2] Barnhart takes the noun from the English verb, and partly from the Middle French word.[6] The adjective is the Latin past participle, meaning "bent back", used as an adjective, and in later use partly the noun.[2][6][5] The verb is first found as inherited from Middle English reflexen (“to refract, deflect”), from the same participle;[7][3][6] reflect comes from the same Latin verb.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb, to refract or deflect light: before 1425, in a Wycliffite sermon.[7][6] The noun first meant reflected light or the reflection of light, in 1508 in Dunbar's Goldyn Targe.[2][6][8]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th and 17th centuries the word kept close to reflect: the noun was used for a mirror image (1596–1850), for turning the mind back upon a subject, that is, meditation (1593–1657), and for a sidelong glance or allusion (1630–50),[2][8] and the adjective, from 1607, for thought that turns back upon itself.[2][8] Barnhart and Etymonline date the adjective to the 1640s.[6][3] Johnson (1755) knew only this adjective, "directed backward", as in "the reflex act of the soul".[9] The physiological sense, an action done without conscious thought in response to a stimulus, comes from M. Hall's paper of 1833 in the Philosophical Transactions, where reflex is used both as a noun and as an adjective;[2][3] Barnhart and Etymonline find the noun in this sense only in 1877, short for reflex action.[6][3] Other languages took this use from English.[2] Later senses include a form developed from an earlier one in linguistics (1880), a reflex camera (1922) and, in reflexology, a point on the foot linked to another part of the body (1948).[2]

Timeline

  • before 1425 – verb, to refract or deflect light.[7]
  • 1508 – noun, reflected light, in Dunbar.[2][6][8]
  • c. 1536 – verb, to reflect light (obsolete by 1658).[2]
  • c. 1570 – verb, to bend or turn back.[2]
  • 1593 – meditation, reflection (obsolete by 1657).[2]
  • 1607 – adjective, of thought that turns back upon itself.[2][8]
  • 1633 – adjective, bent or turned back, in botany.[2]
  • 1833 – an involuntary action in response to a stimulus.[2][3]
  • 1880 – in linguistics, a form developed from an earlier one.[2]
  • 1922 – a reflex camera.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An automatic, involuntary response to a stimulus, such as coughing or pulling the hand away from a hot surface.[10][8][2]
  2. An action done mechanically, without conscious decision: He reached for the phone out of reflex.[10][2]
  3. A reflection, or an image or copy that reproduces the features of an original.[10][8][2]
  4. (linguistics) A word or sound that has developed from a corresponding form in an earlier stage of the language.[10][2]
  5. A reflex camera.[2]
  6. Reflected light or colour, especially in painting.[8][2]
  7. (obsolete, 1593–1657) Meditation; a considered thought or statement.[2][8]
  8. (obsolete, 1630–50) A glance, or an indirect reference.[2][8]

Adjective

  1. Done automatically, without the will, in response to a stimulus: a reflex reaction.[10][8][2]
  2. Bent, turned or directed back.[8][2]
  3. Directed back upon the mind; introspective.[8][2][9]
  4. Produced in reaction or in return.[8]
  5. Of an angle, between 180° and 360°.[8]

Verb

  1. To bend or turn back.[2][11]
  2. (obsolete, c. 1536–1658) To reflect light.[2][11]

Word family

  • reflexly
  • reflexness
  • chemoreflex
  • multireflex
  • reflexology
  • semireflex

Usage notes

The OED notes that the noun was commonly stressed on the second syllable until the 19th century, as the metre of older poetry shows; the first edition of the OED (1905) gave only that stress for the verb.[2]

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 w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b c 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)
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  11. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press