superfluous

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English superfluous, also superfluus,^[2][3] borrowed from Latin superfluus (“overflowing, unnecessary”),^{[4][5][3][6][7][8]} with the English suffix -ous.^[4][2][7] The Latin adjective is from superfluō (“to overflow”),^[5][3][9][7] from super- (“over”) and fluō (“to flow”),^[5][3][9][8] from Proto-Indo-European *bhleu-.^[9] Barnhart sees the influence of Old French superflueux,^[3] which the American Heritage Dictionary takes as the direct source.^[9] English first had superflue, from the late 14th century, from Old French.^[5][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Present in more than the desired or needed quantity; excessive: before 1450, in J. Arderne.^[4][2] Barnhart dates the word to before 1398, as superfluus in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew's De Proprietatibus Rerum,^[3] but the OED treats that passage, on a number smaller than the sum of its factors, as the Latin adjective used in a Middle English context.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The literal Latin idea of overflowing had already become "more than is needed" before the word reached English.^[5][6] The two main senses appear together in the mid-15th century: more than is sufficient, and (about 1450, in a translation of Boccaccio) not needed at all.^[4] The Middle English Dictionary also has a mathematical use, for a number whose aliquot parts add up to more than itself.^[2] In early modern English the word could mean immoderate or overindulgent (about 1475–1815) and overabundantly supplied (1531–1789),^[4] and it was used of pointless or vain things (before 1533–1654).^[4][7] From 1598, in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, it could describe a person doing more than necessary.^[4][7] Johnson (1755) gave "exuberant; more than enough; unnecessary", and added that a thing could offend by being more than sufficient.^[11] Later special uses are "superfluous hair" (from 1597, in Gerard's Herball),^[4] the musical sense equal to "augmented" (from 1664)^[4][7] and the 19th-century label for women unlikely to marry because of a gender imbalance in the population (from 1855).^[4]

Timeline

• before 1450 – more than is required; excessive.^[4][2]
• c. 1450 – not needed; unnecessary, uncalled for.^[4]
• c. 1475 – immoderate, overindulgent (obsolete by 1815).^[4]
• 1513 – of an action expressed by an infinitive, usually with anticipatory it.^[4]
• 1531 – overabundantly supplied (obsolete by 1789).^[4]
• before 1533 – pointless, vain (obsolete by 1654).^[4]
• 1552 – noun, the superfluous, that which is unnecessary.^[4]
• 1597 – of hair on the face or body, unwanted.^[4]
• 1598 – of a person, doing more than is necessary.^[4]
• 1664 – in music, augmented.^[4]
• 1855 – of a woman, unlikely to marry because of a gender imbalance.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. More than is sufficient or wanted; excessive: He trimmed the superfluous fat from the budget.^[12][13][4]
2. Not needed or relevant; unnecessary, redundant: A long introduction seemed superfluous.^[12][4][7]
3. Of hair on the face or body, thought excessive and usually removed.^[4]
4. (music) Augmented (historical, rare).^[4][7]
5. Immoderate, overindulgent (obsolete, 1475–1815).^[4][7]
6. Extravagant, or oversupplied with something (obsolete, 1531–1789).^[4][12]
7. Ineffective, pointless (obsolete, 1533–1654).^[4][7]

Noun

1. the superfluous: that which is unnecessary.^[4][7]

Word family

• superfluously
• superfluousness
• unsuperfluous
• superfluity

Related words

• superflux
• mellifluous
• fluent
• fluid
• flux
• affluent
• effluent
• influence

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Mayhew, A. L.; Skeat, Walter W. (1888), A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster