Etymologically
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residue

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Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈɹɛzɪduː/[1]

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

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.