simmer

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English simperen (“to simmer”), probably of imitative origin,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} with the consonants assimilated;^[2] the older form survived in dialect as simper.^{[8][9][5][10]} Etymonline quotes the OED's view that the change was probably due to a feeling of phonetic appropriateness.^[3] An early spelling with a silent b followed the model of climb and limb.^[2] Etymonline and the OED consider it unconnected with simper, to smile.^[3][2] Skeat explained it as a frequentative of an imitative base and compared Danish summe (“to hum”);^[11] Collins and Weekley compare German summen (“to hum, buzz”).^[12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a liquid, to be just below boiling point and bubbling gently: before 1637, in G. Markham's Complete Farriar.^[2] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date the verb to 1653, Barnhart in the form simber, with simmer from 1684;^[7][6] Etymonline gives the sense "to make a gentle hissing sound" from the 1650s.^[3] The Middle English simperen appears in T. Norton's Ordinal of Alchemy (c. 1477).^[2][7][3]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined it as to boil gently, with a gentle hissing, and noted that Skinner wrote it simber.^[14] A figurative sense, to stay at a low but steady level of activity, followed in 1653, in H. More.^[2] From 1703 feelings such as anger or discontent were said to simmer when they were close to breaking out;^[2] Etymonline and Barnhart date this sense to 1764.^[3][7] From 1836 a person could simmer with suppressed anger or excitement.^[2] The phrasal simmer down, to calm down, reverses the image, perhaps from a pot moving from a full boil to a mere simmer:^[3] Etymonline records the literal cookery use from 1803 and the figurative one from 1848,^[3] Green's Dictionary of Slang quotes it from 1868,^[15] and Barnhart finds it in Mark Twain's letters in 1871.^[7] In Nottinghamshire dialect simmer also meant to smoulder, and in Scotland, figuratively, to cool down or subside.^[16] The noun is recorded for a spell of simmering from 1662, for the state of simmering from 1758, and for suppressed excitement or anger from 1769;^[2] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date it to 1809 and Etymonline, in on the simmer, to 1793.^[7][6][3]

Timeline

• c. 1477 – simperen, to simmer.^[2][7]
• before 1637 – of a liquid, to bubble gently just below boiling point.^[2] Barnhart dates simber to 1653 and simmer to 1684.^[7]
• 1653 – figurative, to remain at a low, steady level of activity.^[2]
• 1662 – noun, a spell of simmering.^[2]
• 1664 – transitive, to keep a liquid or food just below boiling point.^[2]
• 1703 – of a feeling, to be on the verge of breaking out.^[2] Etymonline and Barnhart date it to 1764.^[3][7]
• 1769 – noun, a state of suppressed excitement or anger.^[2]
• 1836 – of a person, to be in a state of suppressed anger or excitement.^[2]
• 1848 – simmer down, to calm down.^[3] Barnhart's first record is from 1871.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cook, or be cooked, gently in a liquid kept at or just below the boiling point: Leave the beans to simmer for an hour.^[12][6][2]
2. To be in a state of suppressed anger or excitement, close to breaking out: Resentment simmered among the staff for months.^[12][6][2]
3. simmer down: to become calm after anger or excitement.^[15][3][7]

Noun

1. The state or temperature of simmering: Bring the sauce to a simmer.^[12][6][2]
2. A state of suppressed excitement or anger.^[2][12]

Word family

• simmeringly
• resimmer
• simmer down

Related words

• simper

Usage notes

A rare verb simmer, to cement, recorded once in 1725, is apparently a variant of simmon and has a separate source.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)