Etymologically
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sinus

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈsaɪ.nəs/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sinus,[2][3] borrowed from Medieval Latin sinus (“a hollow in the body”),[4][3][5] from Latin sinus (“bend, fold, curve; bay, gulf; the fold of the toga over the breast, bosom”).[4][6][7][8] The Latin word is of unknown origin;[4] de Vaan thinks it probably related to Albanian gji (“breast”),[4] and Barnhart and Merriam-Webster also compare Albanian.[5][9] The same Latin word is the source of sine,[10][11][12][8] and its derivative sinuōsus (“full of curves”) of sinuous.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A hollow or cavity in the body: probably before 1425, in a translation of Chauliac's surgery, which calls a fistula "a streite & a longe sinus".[2][5][4] The OED's first record, from 1598, is the medical sense, a narrow tract leading from an abscess.[6]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th and 18th centuries writers also used the word in the Latin senses "bay, gulf" (1684–1789) and "a cavity in the earth" (before 1676–1784), both now obsolete;[6][4] Johnson (1755) gave "a bay of the sea" first, quoting Burnet's Theory of the Earth.[13] The general sense "curve, bend" is recorded from 1615, in Crooke's anatomy, and the botanical sense, a rounded notch in the margin of a leaf, from 1753.[6] In anatomy it was used of venous cavities and channels from 1673, and of cavities in a bone, especially in the skull, from 1704.[6][5] From this last sense came sinusitis, inflammation of a sinus, in 1896.[5]

Timeline

  • before 1425 – a hollow or cavity in the body.[2][5]
  • 1598 – a narrow suppurating tract leading from an abscess.[6]
  • 1615 – a curve or bend.[6]
  • 1673 – a venous cavity or channel.[6]
  • before 1676 – a cavity in the earth (obsolete by 1784).[6]
  • 1684 – a bay or gulf (obsolete by 1789).[6]
  • 1704 – a cavity in a bone, especially of the skull.[6][5]
  • 1753 – in botany, a rounded notch between the lobes of a leaf.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Any of the air-filled cavities in the bones of the skull that open into the nasal cavity: Her sinuses were blocked for a week.[14][9][6]
  2. A wide channel for venous blood, especially between the brain and the skull.[14][6]
  3. Any cavity or hollow in the body.[14][9]
  4. (pathology) A narrow passage leading from an infected cavity to the surface, through which pus drains.[14][9][6]
  5. (botany) A small rounded notch between two lobes of a leaf or petal.[14][6]
  6. (obsolete) A bay or gulf of the sea (1684–1789).[6][13]

Word family

  • sinuslike
  • sinusoid
  • sinusitis
  • sinus venosus
  • sinus node
  • sinus rhythm
  • sine
  • sinuous

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  12. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins