saturate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin saturātus, the past participle of saturō (“to fill full, sate, drench”),^[2][3][4][5] from satur (“sated, full”),^[2][3][4][6] from the same base as satis (“enough”),^[7][8][5] from Proto-Indo-European *sa- (“to satisfy”).^[3][4] The OED derives the adjective, recorded first, from the participle, and the verb from its stem saturāt-,^[7] while Barnhart thinks the verb probably developed from the adjective.^[2] The noun is a conversion of the verb.^[7] The OED compares Old French saturer (about 1300) and Spanish saturar.^[7] Barnhart, Hoad and Dictionary.com connect the Latin adjective with sad,^[2][9][10] and Ayto with satiate and satisfy.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective, satisfied, satiated: before 1450, in a musical treatise.^[7][2] As a verb, to satisfy fully, to satiate: 1538, in Elyot's Dictionary.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

The early verb was a synonym of satisfy and satiate, as in Thomas Bell's "so to saturate their insatiable hunger" (1596),^[8] and that sense died out by 1799.^[7] The chemical sense, making a substance combine with or dissolve the greatest possible amount of another, dates from 1675 in the OED and the 1680s in Etymonline.^[7][3] Johnson's definition of 1755, "to impregnate 'till no more can be received or imbibed", reflects it.^[11] The general sense "to soak or imbue thoroughly" appears in the OED from 1696, with figurative use from 1737,^[7] but older accounts put it later: Barnhart finds the figurative use in 1756 and the literal one in 1764,^[2] and Ayto says the sense did not fully emerge until the mid 18th century.^[8] Scientific uses multiplied, for gases and vapour (1771), magnetism (1839), chemical bonds (1866) and gas in body tissue (1885).^[7] Supplying a market to excess is recorded from 1827 in the OED and by 1958 in Etymonline,^[7][3] and overwhelming a target by aerial attack from 1918.^[7] The adjective kept pace, for a solution (1656), a deep colour (1669) and, chiefly in poetry, anything soaked through (1785–1902).^[7] The noun appeared in 1921 in the OED, and by 1959 in Etymonline.^[7][3]

Timeline

• before 1450 – adjective, satisfied, satiated (obsolete by 1819).^[7][2]
• 1538 – verb, to satisfy fully, to satiate (obsolete by 1799).^[7][2][12]
• 1656 – adjective, in chemistry, of a solution, saturated.^[7]
• 1669 – adjective, of a colour, intense, deep.^[7]
• 1675 – to cause a substance to combine with or dissolve the greatest possible quantity of another.^[7] Etymonline dates this to the 1680s.^[3]
• 1696 – to soak or imbue thoroughly.^[7] Barnhart dates the literal use to 1764.^[2]
• 1737 – figuratively, to fill to capacity, to permeate completely.^[7] Barnhart dates this to 1756.^[2]
• 1771 – to cause a gas to hold as much vapour as possible.^[7]
• 1827 – to supply a market to a very full extent.^[7] Etymonline has it by 1958.^[3]
• 1839 – to magnetize a body to the greatest degree.^[7]
• 1866 – to satisfy the bonding power of a molecule.^[7]
• 1918 – to overwhelm an enemy target area by aerial attack.^[7]
• 1921 – noun, a saturated organic compound, especially a fat or fatty acid.^[7] Etymonline has it by 1959.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To soak thoroughly or fill completely: The overnight rain saturated the playing field.^[13][12][7]
2. To imbue thoroughly with something not material: a novel saturated with nostalgia.^[13][12][7]
3. To supply a market beyond the point of demand: Cheap imports saturated the market for bicycles.^[7][6][12]
4. In chemistry, to make a substance combine with, dissolve or hold the greatest possible quantity of another, or to satisfy its bonding power.^{[13][12][7][6]}
5. To make a gas hold as much vapour as possible.^[7][13]
6. In physics, to magnetize or charge a body fully.^[7][6][13]
7. In electronics, to bring a device to the state in which its current can increase no further.^[6]
8. In military use, to bomb or shell a target heavily, so as to overwhelm it.^[13][7][6]
9. (obsolete, 1538–1799) To satiate or satisfy fully.^[7][6]

Adjective

1. A less common word for saturated.^[13][12][7]
2. Of a colour: intense, deep.^[7]
3. (obsolete, before 1450–1819) Satisfied, satiated.^[7][6]

Noun

1. A saturated chemical compound, especially a saturated fat or fatty acid.^[7][6][12]

Word family

• saturable
• saturator
• desaturate
• oversaturate
• supersaturate
• unsaturate

Related words

• sate
• satisfy
• saturation
• sad
• satiate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins