Etymologically
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residual

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 09:03. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • US: /ɹɪˈzɪd͡ʒ.u.əl/, /ɹɪˈzɪd͡ʒ.əl/[1]

Etymology

The OED, Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com take it as from Latin residuum (“what is left over”) with the English suffix -al;[2][3][4] the Shorter Oxford and Etymonline derive it from residue,[5][6] and Etymonline also allows a borrowing of French résiduel.[6] The Latin noun is the neuter of residuus (“left over”), from resideō (“to be left over; literally, to remain seated”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun in mathematics, a quantity resulting from subtracting one quantity from another: 1557, in Robert Recorde's Whetstone of Witte.[2][3] The adjective, in the matching mathematical sense, follows in 1570, in Billingsley's translation of Euclid.[2][3] Etymonline dates the noun to the 1550s and the adjective to the 1560s.[6]

Semantic evolution

The general sense "remaining, left over" is recorded from 1609,[2] by about 1600 according to Etymonline.[6] From the 18th century the word spread through the sciences: residual analysis, a calculus of finite differences (1758); products left over from a process (1758); electric charge and magnetism that remain after their cause is removed (1821, 1832); and stresses present in an object without any outside load (1883).[2] In 1847 Whewell used it of the difference between an observed and a calculated value, the sense the noun took in science and statistics from 1854.[2] Geologists have spoken of residual deposits and soils, formed in place by the weathering of rock, since 1876.[2][7] The noun came to mean any remainder (1839) or by-product (1850),[2] and in the 1950s a royalty paid to a performer for a repeat of a broadcast or commercial,[2][6] chiefly in the plural; the OED's first example is from 1954.[2]

Timeline

  • 1557 – noun, in mathematics, the result of a subtraction.[2][3]
  • 1570 – adjective, in mathematics, resulting from subtraction.[2][3]
  • 1609 – remaining, left over.[2]
  • 1758 – left as a by-product, and residual analysis.[2]
  • 1839 – noun, a remainder.[2]
  • 1854 – noun, the difference between an observed and an expected value.[2]
  • 1876 – of deposits and soils, formed by weathering in place.[2]
  • 1954 – noun, a royalty for a repeat performance.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Remaining or left over after most of something has gone or been used: residual pain after the operation.[7][3][2]
  2. Left as a residue or by-product of a process.[2][3]
  3. Of a quantity, being the difference between an observed value and a calculated or average one.[2][3]
  4. (geology) Of deposits or soils, formed by the weathering of rock in place.[7][2]
  5. Of or relating to the payment of residuals.[7]

Noun

  1. Something left over; a remainder or residue.[7][3][2]
  2. (statistics) The difference between an observed value and the mean or a predicted value.[7][3][2]
  3. (usually plural) A royalty paid to a performer or writer for each repeat of a broadcast, film or commercial.[2][6]

Word family

  • residually
  • nonresidual
  • residual power
  • residual stress

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ 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 f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins