Etymologically
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saturation

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 22:57. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌsætʃ(ə)rˈeɪʃ(ə)n/, /ˌsætʃtʃʊˈreɪʃ(ə)n/[1]
  • US: /ˌsætʃəˈreɪʃ(ə)n/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin saturātiō (“fullness, a filling”),[2][3][4][5][6] from the past participle stem of Latin saturō (“to fill, sate”), the source of saturate,[2][3][4] from satur (“sated, full”),[7][8] from Proto-Indo-European *sā- (“to satisfy”).[8][7] Etymonline also allows that it was formed in English from saturate,[8] and the OED and the Shorter Oxford note that the later senses were shaped by the verb.[2][5] The OED compares Middle French saturation (1513) and Spanish saturación.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Complete satisfaction of the appetite, satiation: about 1530, in the Dialoges of Creatures Moralysed,[2] or 1554 (in Coverdale) according to Merriam-Webster and Etymonline.[3][8] This sense is now obsolete.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In 17th-century chemistry saturation became the state of a substance holding as much of another as it can take, recorded from 1662,[2][9] or the 1670s in Etymonline.[8] The physical sense "a thorough soaking" is from 1732,[2][9] and the abstract "state of being filled or permeated with something" from 1813;[2][9] from 1835 economists spoke of the saturation of a market.[2] Physics extended it to a gas, such as air, holding as much suspended matter as it can (1774) and to magnetism (1787).[2] From 1872 it also meant the intensity of a colour,[9] a sense Etymonline dates to 1878;[8] it was used of the colour setting of television sets by 1964.[8] Also from 1872 it was used of the concentration of a gas, especially oxygen, in the blood.[9] Saturation bombing dates from 1942, of the mass Allied air raids on German cities.[8][9]

Timeline

  • c. 1530 – complete satisfaction of the appetite (obsolete).[2]
  • 1662 – in chemistry, the state of holding as much of a substance as possible.[2][9]
  • 1732 – thorough soaking.[2]
  • 1774 – of a gas holding as much suspended matter as it can.[2]
  • 1787 – in magnetism.[2]
  • 1813 – the state of being filled or permeated with something.[2]
  • 1835 – of a market fully supplied.[2]
  • 1872 – the intensity of a colour; the concentration of a gas in the blood.[9]
  • 1942 – saturation bombing.[8][9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act of saturating something, or the state of being saturated.[10][11]
  2. In chemistry, the state of a solution, compound or vapour that holds as much of a substance as it can.[10][2]
  3. In meteorology, the state of air holding as much water vapour as it can, the relative humidity being 100 percent.[10][2]
  4. The intensity or vividness of a colour, the proportion of pure colour in it.[10][9]
  5. In physics, the state of a ferromagnetic substance that cannot be magnetized further.[10][11][2]
  6. The state of a market that is fully supplied.[2]
  7. (often attributive) An overwhelming concentration of force or coverage, as in saturation bombing.[2][8][9]
  8. (obsolete) Complete satisfaction of the appetite.[2][5]

Word family

  • nonsaturation
  • desaturation
  • supersaturation
  • oversaturation
  • subsaturation
  • saturation diving
  • saturation point

References

  1. ^ a b 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 q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin