screen

Pronunciation

• IPA: /skriːn/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English skrene, screne,^[2][3] probably borrowed from Old French escren (“fire screen, tester of a bed”) in a shortened form, an Old North French variant of Old French escran (modern écran),^[4][2][5] which is of uncertain origin,^[4] probably from a Germanic source,^[4][6] perhaps Middle Dutch scherm (“screen, cover, shield”),^[4][2][3] or a Frankish word related to Old High German skrank “barrier”.^[4][5][6] Middle Dutch scherm is related to Old High German skirm “protection” and German Schirm.^[4][2] The verb is from the noun.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A frame covered for protection from the heat of a fire or from draughts: 1348 in Barnhart,^[2] the mid-14th century in Etymonline.^[4] The OED's first example is from 1393.^[7]

Semantic evolution

A partition in a building, such as a church, is from the 15th century,^[5] and anything that hides from view from about 1600.^[4] An open mesh for sifting grain or coal is from 1573,^[2] and a wire mesh in a window or door to keep out insects from 1840, in screen door.^[2][4] The surface on which images are shown is from 1810, first of magic lantern shows and later of films;^[2][4] the cinema world as a whole is from 1914, hence screen test (1918).^[4] The small fluorescent display of a television is by 1946, and that of a computer monitor by 1970.^[4] The verb meant “to shield, protect” from about 1485,^[2] “to sift” from the 1660s,^[4] “to release a film” from 1915,^[4] and “to examine systematically for suitability” from 1943, a word of the Second World War.^[4] Screenplay is from 1916.^[2]

Timeline

• 1348 – a fire screen.^[2]
• c. 1485 – verb, to shield.^[2]
• 1573 – a sieve.^[2]
• c. 1600 – anything that conceals.^[4]
• 1810 – a surface for projected images.^[2][4]
• 1840 – screen door.^[2]
• 1914 – the cinema world.^[4]
• 1943 – verb, to examine for suitability.^[4]
• 1946 – a television screen.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The flat surface of a television, computer or similar device on which images are shown; a surface onto which films are projected.
2. the screen: Films or television as a medium.
3. A movable upright frame used to divide a room, hide something or protect from heat or draughts; anything that conceals or protects.
4. A frame of wire mesh in a window or door to keep out insects.
5. A coarse sieve for sorting gravel, coal and the like.

Verb

1. To shield or hide with a screen.
2. To examine people systematically, as for a disease or suitability for a job.
3. To show a film or television programme.
4. To sift through a screen.

Word family

• screenable
• screener
• screenless
• screenlike
• off-screen
• on-screen
• screen-print
• windscreen

Related words

• skirmish
• screenplay
• smokescreen

Usage notes

A separate slang noun screen, a banknote, especially in queer screen, a forged note, is from the late 18th century and now rare.^[6]

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 h i j k l m n o p Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press