solid

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈsɒl.ɪd/, US /ˈsɑː.lɪd/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English solide,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French solide (“firm, dense, compact”), and directly from Latin solidus (“firm, whole, entire”),^[4][2][5] figuratively “sound, genuine”,^[4] from a suffixed form of Proto-Indo-European *sol- (“whole”).^[4] Latin solidus is related to salvus (“safe”) and sollus (“whole”),^[2][5][6] and Merriam-Webster compares Greek holos “entire”.^[3] It is related to safe, solder and soldier.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not hollow, free from empty spaces: 1391, in Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe,^[2][7] the late 14th century in Etymonline, also of three-dimensional figures.^[4]

Semantic evolution

“Firm, hard, compact” is from the 1530s,^[4] or about 1532 in Barnhart,^[2] and “firm, strong, substantial” from 1586.^[2] Of qualities, “well-established”, it is from about 1600, and of food from about 1700.^[4] “Entirely of the same stuff” is from 1710.^[4] As an intensifier, “thoroughly”, it is from 1830, and the slang sense “wonderful” is recorded among jazz musicians by 1920.^[4] The sense of unanimity in voting, as a solid state, is from 1855.^[4] The noun, a three-dimensional figure, is from before 1398;^[2] a solid substance, as opposed to a fluid, is from 1698.^[2][7] Solid state in physics is from 1953, and of electronics using transistors rather than valves from 1959.^[4]

Timeline

• 1391 – not hollow, in Chaucer.^[2][7]
• before 1398 – noun, a three-dimensional body.^[2]
• 1530s – hard, compact.^[4]
• 1586 – substantial.^[2]
• 1698 – a solid substance.^[2][7]
• 1710 – of the same material throughout.^[4]
• 1799 – solidify.^[2]
• 1920 – wonderful, in jazz slang.^[4]
• 1953 – solid state.^[4]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Having a definite shape and volume; not liquid or gaseous.
2. Firm and compact; not hollow.
3. Of the same substance or colour throughout: solid gold.
4. Having three dimensions.
5. Strongly built; sturdy and reliable.
6. Unbroken; continuous: two solid hours.
7. Unanimous: a solid vote.

Noun

1. A substance that is neither liquid nor gas.
2. A geometric figure with three dimensions.

Word family

• solidly
• solidness
• half-solid
• solidity
• solid-state
• nonsolid
• semisolid
• solidungulate

Related words

• solidarity
• solidify
• solidus
• consolidate
• safe
• solder
• soldier
• salvage

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press