Etymologically
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screen

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 17:56. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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

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