robust

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /rəʊˈbʌst/, US /roʊˈbʌst/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French robuste or directly Latin rōbustus (“strong and hardy, originally oaken”),^[2][3][4] from rōbur (“oak, hard timber, strength”), earlier rōbus,^[2][3][4][5] probably named for the reddish heartwood of the oak and related to ruber (“red”) (see red),^[2][3][6] from Proto-Indo-European *reudh- (“red, ruddy”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of persons, strong and hardy in body: 1549 in Barnhart and the OED, the 1540s in Etymonline;^[2][7][3] Merriam-Webster gives the 15th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Robust also meant coarse, rough or rude from about 1560, a sense now rare.^[7] It was used of the body and health from 1625, of tasks needing strength from 1683, of plants from 1756, figuratively from 1788, and of the mind or voice from 1852.^[7] Robustious, an elaborated form of the 1540s, was common in the 17th century, as in Hamlet, with a stronger sense of rough or violent; it fell out of use by the mid-18th century and was revived by 19th-century antiquarian writers.^[3] The same Latin word is in corroborate.^[8]

Timeline

• 1549 – strong and hardy.^[2][7]
• c. 1560 – coarse, rough.^[7]
• 1683 – requiring strength.^[7]
• 1756 – of plants.^[7]
• 1788 – figurative.^[7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Strong and healthy; vigorous.
2. Sturdily built.
3. Needing or suited to physical strength: a robust sport.
4. Rough or boisterous.
5. Of wine, having a rich, full-bodied flavour.
6. Of thought or argument, straightforward and full of common sense.

Word family

• robustly
• robustness
• robustious
• unrobust

Related words

• corroborate
• corroboration
• roborant
• robusta
• red

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press