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springtime

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Etymology and origin of the English word springtime

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1495 Trevisa's Bartholomeus De Proprietatibus Rerum, printed by de Worde More words from the 15th century
Ultimate origin
Old English springan,getimian
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English spring
English springtime
From the same root
English springboard ← spring
English springer ← spring

Pronunciation

  • /ˈsprɪŋtaɪm/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English spring + time.[2][3][4][5][6] It was preceded by springing time, recorded from the late 14th century in Trevisa.[2][3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The season of spring: 1495, in Wynkyn de Worde's edition of Trevisa's translation of De Proprietatibus Rerum.[2] Etymonline dates it to the late 15th century,[3] and Dictionary.com to 1485–95.[6]

Semantic evolution

The compound is older than spring alone as the name of the season, which Etymonline dates to the 1540s, as a shortening of spring of the year; the season word replaced the Old English word that survives as Lent.[3] Figurative uses followed within a century: from 1579 the first, fresh or vigorous stage of anything, usually followed by of; from 1583 it also meant a person's youth, a sense now archaic.[2][5]

Timeline

  • 1495 – the season of spring.[2]
  • 1579 – the first, fresh stage or period of something.[2]
  • 1583 – youth (now archaic).[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The season of spring, between winter and summer: The orchard is at its best in springtime.[8][4][9]
  2. An early, fresh or flourishing stage of something: the springtime of the republic.[8][4][2]
  3. (archaic) Youth.[4][2]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ Stratmann, Francis Henry (1891), A Middle-English Dictionary, revised by Henry Bradley, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Cite this entry

“Springtime.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/springtime. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·