Etymologically
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robust

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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
  • 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