side

Pronunciation

• IPA: /saɪd/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English side, inherited from Old English sīde (“flank of a person; long part of a thing”),^[2][3] from Proto-Germanic *sīdō.^[2][4] Its cognates are Old Frisian side, Old Saxon sīda, Dutch zijde, Old High German sīta (modern German Seite) and Old Norse síða (“flank; side of meat; coast”).^[5][2] It was probably formed from an adjective meaning “long, extending lengthways”, seen in sīd (“long, broad, spacious”) and síðr (“long, hanging down”).^[2][6][5] Barnhart relates it further to Welsh hyd (“length”) and Latin saeculum (“age, century”),^[5] and Etymonline to Proto-Indo-European *sē- (“long; late”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The flank of a person or animal, either part of the body to the left or right, and the long part or aspect of anything.^[2][6] Old English sīde is recorded before 800.^[2][7][5]

Semantic evolution

The old sense “long part of anything” survives in hillside.^[2] From the 14th century side was a lateral half of a slaughtered animal, as in a side of bacon,^[2] and by about 1400 a region or district, as in countryside.^[2] The figurative sense “a position in relation to another person, a party in a dispute” (choose sides) is recorded about 1250,^[5][2] “one of the parties in a transaction” in the late 14th century, “an aspect” (the bright side) by the mid-15th century, and “a team in a game” from the 1690s.^[2] One face of a gramophone record is a side by 1936, and side is short for side dish by 1848.^[2] The verb meant “to cut (meat) into sides” in the 15th century,^[2][6] and “to take the side of” from 1591;^[5][8] to take sides is from about 1700.^[2] The adjective “at or toward one side”, hence “subordinate”, is late 14th century.^[2][5] Compounds include sidewalk (1739), sideshow (1855, in P. T. Barnum), side effect (1884) and sidekick (1903, in O. Henry).^[5] The slang side “swagger, pretentiousness” (1878) comes from an obsolete side “proud, boastful”.^[9][8]

Timeline

• before 800 – Old English sīde.^[5]
• c. 1250 – a position or attitude in relation to others.^[5]
• 14th century – a side of a slaughtered animal.^[2]
• before 1375 – adjective, at or toward one side.^[5]
• late 14th century – one of the parties in a transaction.^[2]
• c. 1400 – a region or district.^[2]
• before 1450 – verb, to carve into sides.^[5]
• mid-15th century – an aspect of something.^[2]
• 1591 – verb, to take the side of.^[5][8]
• 1690s – a team in a game.^[2]
• c. 1700 – take sides.^[2]
• 1739 – sidewalk.^[5]
• 1848 – a side dish.^[2]
• 1855 – sideshow (American).^[5]
• 1878 – swagger, pretentiousness.^[8][9]
• 1884 – side effect.^[5]
• 1903 – sidekick.^[5]
• 1936 – a side of a record.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A line or surface bounding a figure or object.
2. A surface of an object other than its top, bottom, front or back.
3. Either of the two surfaces of a flat object: both sides of the page.
4. The left or right part of the body, or of a thing or area.
5. One of two opposing groups or positions in a contest or dispute: whose side are you on?
6. A sports team.
7. An aspect: the funny side.
8. A side of meat: a side of bacon.
9. A side dish.
10. One face of a gramophone record.
11. (slang) Swagger, pretentiousness.

Adjective

1. At or on a side: a side door.
2. From or toward one side; oblique.
3. Minor, incidental: a side issue.
4. In addition to the main part: a side order.

Verb

1. side with: to take the part of (someone) in a dispute.
2. To provide with sides or siding.

Word family

• sideless
• siding

Related words

• beside
• aside
• sidle
• sideways
• since

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 w x Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
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. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster