residue

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English residue,^[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman residue (Middle French residu (“remainder”)),^[3][4][5] and directly borrowed from Latin residuum (“remainder, what is left behind”).^[3][2] Most dictionaries give the French source as Old French residu,^{[6][7][8][9][10]} which Etymonline dates to the 14th century;^[6] the OED dates the Middle French word to 1331, first of a remainder in a calculation.^[3] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1320, of a sum of money left over or a debt still unpaid.^[11] The Latin noun is the neuter of residuus (“remaining, left over”),^{[6][7][8][12][13]} from resideō (“to sit back, remain behind”),^{[6][7][12][4]} the source of reside, formed from re- (“back”) and sedeō (“to sit”),^[6] from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The rest, that which is left, of things and of persons: before 1382, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible.^[3][2] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-14th century,^[6] and Barnhart to probably before 1350.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense, what is left of an estate after debts, charges and bequests, is recorded from 1411, in a will,^[3][2] and dated to the early 15th century by Etymonline.^[6] In arithmetic residue meant the remainder of a subtraction or division from about 1450;^[3] it was later specialized in number theory (1808) and in complex analysis (1855).^[3] The sense "what remains after burning, evaporation or a similar process" dates from 1586,^[3] and for this the Latin residuum itself was also used in English.^[6] In chemistry a residue was first, in 1852, a group of atoms left after removing others from a molecule, and later a unit forming part of a larger molecule.^[3] In sociology it has meant since 1923 a basic, non-rational impulse behind human conduct.^[3][14] An adjective residue, "remaining", was used from before 1382 to the 19th century.^[3][2] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as "the remaining part; that which is left".^[15]

Timeline

• before 1382 – the remainder, the rest; also an adjective, remaining.^[3][2]
• 1411 – what remains of an estate after debts and bequests.^[3]
• c. 1450 – the remainder in arithmetic.^[3]
• 1586 – what remains after burning, evaporation, etc.^[3]
• 1808 – in number theory.^[3]
• 1852 – in chemistry.^[3]
• 1923 – in sociology.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. What is left after part of something has been taken away, used up or dealt with; a remainder: the residue of the day.^[9][4][3]
2. Matter left after burning, evaporation or another process; a deposit or sediment: a sticky residue on the glass.^[9][3][14]
3. (law) The part of an estate left after all debts, charges and specific bequests have been paid.^[9][4][3]
4. (mathematics) A number left as a remainder in a congruence; also a coefficient in the Laurent expansion of a complex function.^[3]
5. (chemistry) A group of atoms forming part of a larger molecule.^[3]

Word family

• residual
• residuary
• quadratic residue
• residue class

Related words

• residuum
• reside
• sediment

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.