Etymologically
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remnant

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈɹɛmnənt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English remnaunt, also remnant, a contraction of remenaunt or remanant,[2][3][4][5][6] borrowed from Old French remanant, also remenant (“rest, remainder, surplus”),[4][7][8][9] the noun use of the present participle of remanoir (“to remain”), also remenoir and remaindre.[9][4][6][10][7] The Anglo-Norman form was remenaunt.[2] The OED explains remnant as remanant with the middle syllable dropped.[3] The French verb continues Latin remaneō (“to stay behind, remain”),[11][9] formed from re- (“back”) and maneō (“to stay, remain”), from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to remain”).[9] It is related to remain and remainder.[12][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The longer form remenant, the remainder, is recorded from about 1300 in Etymonline, and before 1300 in Barnhart.[9][4] The contracted remnant first appears before 1375, in William of Palerne, for the remaining part of a number of people.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word covered the rest of anything: the rest of an estate, of a story or text, of a sum of money, of a day or of life, and in arithmetic the result of a subtraction.[2] Chaucer used remenaunt 38 times and Gower 42 times.[13] From the start it was also used of a small remaining part, and in particular of a short length of cloth or fur.[2] The cloth sense is recorded from the mid-15th century in Etymonline,[9] but only from 1571 in the OED, of the end of a piece left over after the rest has been used or sold.[3] In the Wycliffite Bible (1382) the word was used for a small remaining number of people,[3] and this biblical use gave the remnant of a faith, a small group who see themselves as keeping its true teaching (1598),[3] and the remnant of the Jews who survived exile or persecution.[3][5] From 1560 it also meant a surviving trace of a quality, belief or state of things.[3] The adjective, remaining or left over, dates from 1550 in Merriam-Webster, but from the 1540s in Etymonline;[10][9] Johnson (1755) called it "corruptly formed from remanent".[14] In Scots a remnant could be a small piece or a feeble old person, the wreck of a man.[15]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – remenant, the remainder.[9]
  • before 1375 – remnant, the remaining part of a number of people.[3]
  • 1382 – a small remaining number of people.[3]
  • c. 1400 – the remainder of a thing.[3]
  • c. 1450 – a small portion, a fragment.[3]
  • 1550 – adjective, remaining.[10] Etymonline dates it to the 1540s.[10][9]
  • 1560 – a surviving trace of a quality or belief.[3]
  • 1571 – the end of a piece of cloth left over.[3]
  • 1598 – a small religious group holding to the true faith.[3]
  • 1853 – in geology, a residual landform.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A part, usually a small one, that is left over after the rest has been used, removed or lost; the remainder: The remnants of dinner were still on the table.[16][10][3]
  2. A surviving trace or vestige of something that has otherwise passed away: a remnant of the old feudal order.[16][3]
  3. A piece of fabric left at the end of a bolt or roll, usually sold cheaply.[16][3][5]
  4. A small number of people surviving from a larger group; in religion, a faithful minority, especially the Jews who survived exile or persecution.[3][5][10]
  5. (geomorphology) A residual landform standing above the surrounding surface.[3][5]

Adjective

  1. Remaining; left over.[16][10][14]

Word family

  • remnantal
  • supernova remnant

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  13. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  16. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins