routine

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ruːˈtiːn/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French routine (“usual course of action, beaten path”) (16th century),^[2][3] from route (“way, path, course”) (see route) and the noun suffix -ine.^[2][3][4] Hoad records the early spelling rotine.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A regular course of procedure, a more or less mechanical performance of certain acts: before 1680 in the OED and Barnhart, in Samuel Butler's Remains, and the 1670s in Etymonline,^[5][3][2] while MWU dates it to 1661.^[5][3][2][6] A set form of speech is recorded in 1676.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Routine without an article, regular or mechanical procedure in general, is from 1789.^[5] The adjective, mechanical or unvaried, is from 1817,^[2][3][5] and the extended sense “ordinary, typical”, as in a routine check, from about 1940.^[3] The theatrical sense, a rehearsed act or sequence of steps, is from 1926,^[5][2][3] and the computing sense, a set of instructions for a particular task, from 1945.^[5][3] The verb, to organize by a routine, was used by George Bernard Shaw in 1897.^[3][5]

Timeline

• 1661 – first sense, in MWU.^[6]
• a1680 – a regular course of procedure.^[5]
• 1789 – regular procedure in general.^[5]
• 1817 – the adjective.^[5][2]
• 1897 – the verb.^[5]
• 1926 – a theatrical routine.^[5]
• 1945 – a computer routine.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A usual or regular way of doing things, often an unvarying one.
2. A rehearsed piece of entertainment, such as a comedian's act or a set of dance steps.
3. (computing) A program or part of one that does a particular task.
4. (informal) A familiar or insincere speech.

Adjective

1. Done as part of normal procedure; regular or habitual.
2. Ordinary, with nothing special about it.

Word family

• routinely
• routinism
• routinist
• routineness
• nonroutine
• routinize

Related words

• route
• rout
• rut

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 f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster