stereotype

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈstɛ.ɹi.əˌtaɪp/, /ˈstɪə.ɹi.əˌtaɪp/ (UK); /ˈstɛɹ.i.əˌtaɪp/, /ˈstɪɹ.i.əˌtaɪp/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French stéréotype (“printed from a solid plate of type”),^[2][3][4][5] from French stéréo- (“solid”) + type (“type”),^[2][3][4][5] the first element from Ancient Greek στερεός (stereós, “solid”).^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A method of printing from a solid metal plate cast from a mould of composed type (1798).^[6][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word was extended to the plate itself (1817),^[6][4][5] and the verb meant “to cast a stereotype plate” (1804).^[6][3][4][5] Because such a plate reproduces the same page unchanged, the verb came to mean “to fix firmly or unchangeably” (before 1819),^[6][3][4] and the noun “something repeated without change” (1850).^[6][3][4] The sense of a preconceived and oversimplified idea of the characteristics of a person or group was popularized by Walter Lippmann's Public Opinion (1922).^[4][6]

Timeline

• 1798 – stereotype printing.^[6][3][4]
• 1804 – verb, to cast stereotype plates.^[6][3][4][5]
• 1817 – a stereotype plate.^[6][4][5]
• before 1819 – verb, to fix unchangeably.^[6][3][4]
• 1850 – something repeated without change.^[6][3][4]
• 1922 – an oversimplified conception of a group.^[6][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A conventional, oversimplified and often prejudiced idea or image of a person, group or thing.
2. A person or thing regarded as conforming to such a set image.
3. (printing) A metal plate cast from a mould of a raised printing surface such as type.

Verb

1. To characterize by a stereotype; to form a stereotype of.
2. To give a fixed, unvarying form to; to make hackneyed.
3. To make a stereotype plate of, or print from one.

Word family

• stereotyper
• stereotypically

Related words

• stereotypy
• cliché
• stereo
• type
• prejudice

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
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 c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press