reside

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English residen (“to remain at a place”),^[2][3][4] partly borrowed from Middle French resider (“to stay, live, dwell”) and partly from its source, Latin resideō (“to sit; to remain in a place”),^[5][4][3][6] formed from Latin re- (“back”) + sedeō (“to sit”),^[5][3][7][8] from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”),^[3][7] the root of sit.^[6][9][4] The Shorter Oxford, the Oxford Dictionary of English and Hoad think it was probably at first a back-formation from resident, later influenced by the French and Latin verbs,^[10][11][12] and Barnhart also allows a back-formation in some uses, from residence.^[4] Ayto notes that its “-side” has nothing to do with side.^[9] The OED compares Spanish residir (late 14th century) and Portuguese residir (1435).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a thing, to remain or lie in a place: before 1475, in a book on hawking, where a little lard is to reside on a powdered wound.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The Oxford Dictionary of English gives the first sense as to be in residence as an official,^[11] a use the OED records from about 1485.^[5] The general sense, to have one's settled home in a place, appears in 1523 according to the OED,^[5] by the 1570s according to Etymonline and in 1578 according to Barnhart.^[3][4] From 1603 a quality could reside in a person or thing, and a power or right could do so from 1607.^[5][4][5][4] The verb has been used of animals in a habitat since 1640,^[5] and since 1963 in computing, of a program or file stored on a disk or in memory.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as to have abode, to live, to dwell, to be present.^[13]

Timeline

• before 1475 – to remain or lie in a place.^[5][2]
• c. 1485 – of an official, to be in residence.^[5]
• 1523 – to dwell permanently or for a long time.^[5]
• 1603 – of a quality, to be present in a person or thing.^[5]
• 1607 – of a power or right, to be vested in someone.^[5][4]
• 1640 – of an animal, to live in a habitat.^[5]
• 1963 – computing: of a program or file, to be stored in a place.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To live in a place permanently or for a long time; to have one's home there: Her family now resides in Leeds.^[14][6][5]
2. Of a quality, to be present or inherent in someone or something.^[14][5]
3. Of a power or right, to be vested in a person or body.^[14][5]
4. Of an official, to live where one's duties lie; to be in residence.^[6][5]
5. In computing, of a program or file, to be stored on a particular drive or in memory.^[5]
6. (obsolete, 1488–1775) To remain or stay in a place.^[6][5]

Word family

• resider

Related words

• residence
• residency
• resident
• residential
• residue
• sedentary
• session
• subside

Usage notes

The OED, the Shorter Oxford and Merriam-Webster also record an obsolete verb reside, to sink down or to settle as a sediment (about 1595 to 1744), taken directly from Latin resīdō (“to sit down, sink back, subside”);^[5][10][6] Johnson still listed this sense in 1755.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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)
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ 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.
14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins