rigid

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin rigidus (“stiff, unbending, frozen, stern”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed on rigeō (“to be stiff”) with the adjective suffix that became -id.^[2][7][8] Merriam-Webster and the Shorter Oxford allow a borrowing through rigide.^[9][7] The Latin verb comes from the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *reig- (“to stretch, be stiff”), according to Etymonline and Watkins;^[5][4] Barnhart thinks it was altered from an earlier *regeō under the influence of ērigō (“to raise up”), the source of erect,^[3] and Merriam-Webster connects it with regō (“to lead straight, rule”).^[9] Klein compares Ancient Greek ῥῖγος (rhîgos, “frost, cold”).^[6] Rigour comes from the same verb.^[10][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Stiff, unbending, of the body: probably before 1425, in a translation of Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie;^[2][3] Etymonline dates it to the early 15th century and Merriam-Webster to the 15th century.^[5][9] Dictionary.com, Collins and Hoad date it only to the 16th century.^[8][11][10]

Semantic evolution

From physical stiffness the word passed to things that do not change: "fixed, set, inflexible" is recorded from 1610,^[2] "strict, exacting", of a person keeping to a rule, from 1602,^[2][10] and stiffness of an object or material from 1618.^[2] Johnson (1755) gave the senses "stiff, not to be bent" and "severe, inflexible".^[12] Later technical uses include a vehicle in one section, as opposed to an articulated one (1852), an airship with an internal framework (1901), a personality unable to adapt, in psychology (1919), and Kripke's rigid designator in philosophy (1971).^[2] The colloquial bore someone rigid, to bore to an intolerable degree, dates from 1900.^[2][11]

Timeline

• ?a1425 – stiff, of the body.^[2][3]
• 1602 – strict, keeping to a rule.^[2]
• 1610 – fixed, not admitting change.^[2]
• 1618 – of an object, not flexible.^[2]
• 1852 – of a vehicle, in one section.^[2]
• 1900 – bore someone rigid.^[2]
• 1901 – of an airship, with a stiff frame.^[2]
• 1971 – rigid designator, in philosophy.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Not bending or able to be bent; stiff: a rigid plastic case.
2. Not able to be changed or adapted; strict or inflexible: The club keeps to a rigid timetable.
3. Stiff and motionless, especially from fear, pain or another strong feeling.
4. Of an airship, having a framework that keeps its shape.

Adverb

1. (informal) Completely or excessively: The speech bored the audience rigid.

Word family

• rigidly
• rigidness
• rigidity
• overrigid
• rigidify
• rigidize
• semirigid
• subrigid

Related words

• rigor
• rigorous
• rigour
• frigid
• stiff

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