subliminal

Etymology

It is formed from English sub- + liminal,^[2] or from sub-, Latin līmen (“threshold”) and -al,^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]} after German unterschwellig (recorded from 1876) or the German word subliminal (from 1879).^[2] Barnhart, Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford take it as a loan translation of Herbart's German phrase unter der Schwelle des Bewusstseins (“below the threshold of consciousness”),^[9][10][4] which the OED cites from his “Psychologie als Wissenschaft” (1824).^[2] Unterschwellig is formed from unter- and Schwelle (“threshold”), a cognate of sill.^[2] Etymonline and Klein connect the Latin noun with sublime.^[10][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a stimulus, below the threshold of conscious perception: 1883, in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research.^[2][6] Etymonline dates the word to 1873,^[10] and Barnhart to 1886.^[9][11]

Semantic evolution

The word began in physiology and psychical research for stimuli too weak to be perceived; from 1886 it was applied to the subconscious mind, especially in the phrase subliminal self;^[2][6] as a noun, the subliminal meant that self from 1892, in F. W. H. Myers.^[2] In 1957 a scare over hidden messages flashed in advertising gave it its best-known modern sense: messages or images shown too briefly to be noticed but meant to influence the viewer.^[10][2][4] In the same year a subliminal could be such a message or advertisement.^[2]

Timeline

• 1883 – of a stimulus, below the threshold of perception.^[2][6] Etymonline gives 1873 for the sense “below the threshold”.^[10]
• 1886 – subconscious, especially subliminal self.^[2][9]
• 1892 – noun, the subliminal, the subliminal self.^[2]
• 1957 – of messages or stimuli meant to influence people without their awareness, as in subliminal advertising; also as a noun, such a message.^[2][10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Existing or working below the level of conscious awareness: a subliminal fear of failure.^[6][12][2]
2. (physiology) Of a stimulus, too weak or brief to produce a sensation or a response.^[6][12][2]
3. Designed to influence the mind by messages shown or played too briefly to be consciously noticed: subliminal messages in a music video.^[6][2]

Noun

1. A subliminal message, or an advertisement containing one.^[2][4]
2. the subliminal: the subliminal self.^[2][4]

Word family

• subliminally

Related words

• liminal
• liminality
• limen
• sublime
• limit

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins