Etymologically
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seismic

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈsaɪzmɪk/[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek σεισμός (seismós, “a shaking, earthquake”) with the English suffix -ic,[2][3][4][5][6] the Greek noun being from σείω (seíō, “to shake”);[2][4][7] Etymonline analyses it as seismo- and the suffix.[8] Etymonline takes the verb from Proto-Indo-European *twei- (“to agitate, shake”).[8] The OED notes that the regular English form would have lacked the e, as French sismique does.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to earthquakes: 1858, in R. Mallet's report to the British Association.[2][3] Barnhart says that seismic, seismograph and seismology were all taken from a British Association report on the work of the physicist Luigi Palmieri, who built a seismograph at the observatory on Vesuvius.[3] Etymonline dates the adjective to 1852,[8] and Dictionary.com to 1855–60.[9]

Semantic evolution

The word was extended to earth vibrations caused by explosions, as in seismic prospecting, and to similar vibrations on the moon and other bodies.[4][10] A figurative sense, "earth-shaking, of enormous effect", is recorded from 1962.[2][4][11]

Timeline

  • 1852 – first use according to Etymonline.[8]
  • 1858 – of or relating to earthquakes.[2][3][10]
  • 1962 – figurative, of enormous effect.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of, caused by, or subject to earthquakes.[10][11][2]
  2. Of or relating to vibrations of the earth from other causes, such as explosions used in prospecting.[10][4][11]
  3. Of or relating to similar vibrations on another body, such as the moon.[10]
  4. Very great in scale or effect: The merger had seismic effects on the whole industry.[10][11][2]

Word family

  • seismically
  • aseismic
  • isoseismic
  • nonseismic
  • seismicity
  • seismograph
  • seismology
  • seismic sea wave
  • seismo-

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  8. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  10. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins