Etymologically
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size

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:45. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /saɪz/[1]

size1 dimensions

Etymology

The dimensions are inherited from Middle English sise, borrowed from Old French sise, short for assise (“session, assessment, regulation, manner”),[2][3][4] the source of assize,[3][5] a noun use of the past participle of asseoir (“to cause to sit”),[2] from Latin assidēre (“to sit beside; to sit in judgement”),[2][5] from ad (“to”) and sedēre (“to sit”).[2] Etymonline suggests the French form arose by misdivision of l'assise as la sise.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Manner, style: probably before 1300, in Arthour and Merlin,[3] and an ordinance or law about 1300;[3] an assize for the administration of justice is from before 1300.[6]

Semantic evolution

The sense “extent, magnitude” arose from the regulation of weights and food portions by fixing their amount:[2][5] it is first recorded about 1303, in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne,[3] and Etymonline has “quantity, length, stature” about 1300.[2] A fixed standard of food or drink is from about 1479,[6] and at Cambridge a portion of food is a size, hence sizar.[6][7] One of a graduated set of dimensions of manufactured goods is from the 1590s, first of shoes.[2] The verb meant “to regulate” about 1400;[2] “to make of a certain size” is from about 1600, “to sort by size” from the 1630s, and size up, “to estimate”, from 1847.[2] Try it on for size is by 1956.[2]

Timeline

  • before 1300 – manner; an assize.[3][6]
  • c. 1303 – magnitude (Mannyng).[3]
  • c. 1400 – verb, to regulate.[2]
  • 1590s – a size of shoe.[2]
  • c. 1600 – verb, to make of a certain size.[2]
  • 1847 – size up.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The physical dimensions or extent of something.
  2. Any of a series of graded dimensions by which clothing and other goods are classified.
  3. Considerable extent or amount; relative amount.

Verb

  1. To arrange or classify by size; to make to a required size.
  2. size up: to assess.

Word family

  • sizable
  • sizeable
  • sizar
  • oversize
  • undersize
  • king-size
  • downsize

size2 glaze, glue

Etymology

The glaze is inherited from Middle English sise, probably borrowed from Middle French sise (“a setting, fixing”), a special use of the same Old French word that gave size1, short for assise.[3][8][9] The SOED and the COED say only that it is perhaps the same word.[4][10] Klein derives it instead from Italian sisa (“painter's glue”), short for assisa, ultimately the same Latin word.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sticky substance for sealing surfaces: about 1325,[3] or about 1440 as a wash applied to paper, parchment or cloth.[6]

Semantic evolution

A semi-solid glue for gilding and painting is from 1530.[6][12] The verb “to coat with size” is figurative in 1633 and literal from 1667.[3] In weaving, size strengthens the warp, a sense recorded in the English Dialect Dictionary.[13]

Timeline

  • c. 1325 – a sticky substance.[3]
  • 1530 – a glue.[6]
  • 1633 – verb, figuratively.[3]
  • 1667 – verb, to coat with size.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A gelatinous or glutinous substance used to glaze or fill porous materials such as paper, cloth or plaster.

Verb

  1. To treat or coat with size.

Word family

  • sizing
  • size up
  • size-up
  • assize
  • assess
  • session
  • sediment

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  12. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  13. ^ 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)