Etymologically
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seat

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:01. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /siːt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sete, borrowed from Old Norse sæti (“seat, position”),[2][3][4] from the stem of sitja (“to sit”),[4] from Proto-Germanic *sæt-,[2] the source also of Middle Dutch gesaete and German Gesäß “buttocks”,[2][5] from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”),[2][3] the root of sit and of Latin sedēre.[6] Old English had sæt “a place of ambush”, and Middle English sete may have been partly influenced by it.[3][2] The verb is from the noun.[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A thing or place to sit on: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle and Layamon,[3] about 1200 in Etymonline.[2] The OED's first sense, the action of sitting, is from about 1200.[8]

Semantic evolution

A chair of dignity or authority is a seat from about 1200.[2] The sense “residence, established place” is from the late 13th century, an extended use influenced by Old French siege and Latin sēdēs.[2][3] The part of the body in which a humour arises is from the late 14th century,[2] and the location of a disease from before 1393, in Gower.[3] A city where a government sits is from about 1400,[2] and the part of a saddle or chair on which one sits from about 1400.[2] The buttocks are a seat from about 1600, and the part of a garment covering them from 1835.[2] A place in a legislature is from 1774,[2] and seat belt, first in aeroplanes, from 1915.[2] The verb, “to place on a seat”, is from 1589,[8] and of a theatre, “to have seats for”, by 1830.[2] In Scotland seat long meant a sitting of a court.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – a thing to sit on.[3][2]
  • late 13th century – a residence.[2]
  • before 1393 – the seat of a disease.[3]
  • c. 1400 – the seat of government.[2]
  • 1589 – verb, to sit down.[8]
  • c. 1600 – the buttocks.[2]
  • 1774 – a seat in parliament.[2]
  • 1915 – seat belt.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Something to sit on, such as a chair or bench; a place to sit.
  2. The part of a chair on which one sits.
  3. The buttocks, or the part of a garment that covers them.
  4. A place of government or centre of an activity: the seat of learning.
  5. Membership in a legislature, or a constituency.
  6. A large country house.

Verb

  1. To place on a seat; to cause to sit.
  2. To have seats for: the hall seats 500.
  3. To fit firmly in place.

Word family

  • seater
  • seatless
  • backseat
  • disseat
  • seatback
  • seating
  • seatmate
  • seat-of-the-pants

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 q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press