Etymologically
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seaside

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Pronunciation

  • /ˌsiːˈsaɪd/[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from English sea + side,[2][3][4][5] Middle English seeside.[5][6] Some early forms are from the genitive of sea and side.[2] Etymonline lists other Middle English words for the seashore, among them sewarth, from Old English sǣwaroþ, and sea-half, from sǣhealf.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The edge of the sea, or the land beside it, usually after a preposition (by, at, to the seaside): about 1275, in the Caligula manuscript of Laȝamon's Brut.[2] Etymonline dates it to about 1200,[4] and Dictionary.com to 1175–1225.[6]

Semantic evolution

From about 1300 to 1710 the plural seasides was also used in this sense.[2] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as "the edge of the sea".[7] The side of a place facing the sea is recorded from about 1574.[2] The seaside as a place visited for one's health, and later for holidays and excursions, is recorded from 1670,[2] though Etymonline dates this mainly British sense to 1782 and the adjective use, as in seaside resort, to 1781.[4][8] In plant names seaside often translates the scientific Latin maritimus.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1275 – the edge of the sea, the land beside it.[2]
  • c. 1300 – plural seasides in the same sense (obsolete by 1710).[2]
  • c. 1574 – the side of something facing the sea.[2]
  • 1670 – the seaside as a place for health or holidays.[2]
  • 1781 – adjective use, of the seaside as a resort.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The land along the sea, especially as a holiday resort: We spent a week at the seaside.[8][5][2]
  2. (usually attributive) Of or at the seaside: a seaside town.[8][5][3]
  3. The side of a town or other place that faces the sea.[5][2]

Word family

  • seaside sparrow

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins