supine

Etymology

The adjective is borrowed from Latin supīnus (“lying face upwards, thrown backward; passive, sluggish”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed from the stem of super (“above”) and superus (“higher”) with the suffix -īnus,^[2][7][6] which Ayto traces to a prehistoric base Proto-Indo-European *sup- (“up”).^[8] Etymonline gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *(s)up-,^[3] and Barnhart, Klein and Merriam-Webster relate the adjective to sub (“under”).^[4][9][5] Klein compares the sense of Ancient Greek ὕπτιος (húptios, “lying on the back”), from ὑπό (hupó, “under”).^[9] The grammatical noun is inherited from Middle English supin, also suppin,^[10] borrowed from Middle French supin and directly borrowed from Late Latin supīnum (“gerund, supine”),^[2][10] recorded from the 3rd century and short for supīnum verbum, the neuter of the adjective.^[2][4][3] Why the adjective was applied to this form is unclear.^[2][6][8] Some scholars compare the Stoics' use of that Greek word for the passive voice, and others point out that such forms have no person, number, tense or voice.^[2] Etymonline suggests the notion "inactive", hence "neutral", and with Barnhart also the idea that the form rests or falls back on the verb.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lying on one's back: about 1425, in a translation of Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie.^[2] Barnhart and Etymonline date the adjective to about 1500,^[4][3] Merriam-Webster to the 15th century.^[5] The noun is first recorded about 1450, in a treatise on syntax.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense has remained the core, with narrower uses: of the hand or forearm with the palm upward (1634),^[2] of plants lying flat (1686) and, chiefly in poetry, of sloping backwards (1697, in Dryden's Virgil).^[2] The sense "inactive" had already arisen in Latin.^[8] In English the figurative "morally lazy, passively indifferent" is recorded from 1554 in the revised OED,^[2] while Etymonline puts it around 1600 and Hoad in the 17th century.^[3][6] Johnson (1755) listed lying face upward, leaning backwards, and "negligent; careless; indolent; drousy; thoughtless; inattentive".^[11] In grammar the noun was extended from Latin to the infinitive with zu in German (1830) and the to-infinitive in English.^[2][5]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – adjective, lying on one's back.^[2]
• c. 1450 – noun, a Latin verbal noun, as suppyn and supyn.^[2][4][10]
• 1554 – figuratively, morally indolent or passively indifferent.^[2]
• 1634 – of the hand or forearm, with the palm upward.^[2]
• 1686 – in botany, lying flat, procumbent.^[2]
• 1696 – noun, the supine, supine people as a class.^[2]
• 1697 – sloping backwards, in Dryden.^[2]
• 1830 – noun, the infinitive with zu in German; later the to-infinitive in English.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Lying on the back with the face upward; opposed to prone: The surgeon operates with the patient supine.^[12][5][2]
2. Of the hand or forearm, held with the palm upward or forward.^[12][2]
3. Passively indifferent, or lethargic; failing to act: a supine press that never questioned the minister.^[12][5][2]
4. (botany) Of a plant, growing flat along the ground; procumbent.^[2]

Noun

1. (grammar) A Latin verbal noun used only in the accusative and ablative, especially to express purpose after verbs of motion, as in difficile dictu, hard to say.^[12][5][2]
2. (grammar) An English infinitive with to.^[5][2]

Word family

• supinely
• supineness
• supinate
• supination
• supinator

Related words

• resupine
• prone
• sub-
• super-
• superior

Usage notes

The OED's first edition (1917) gave stress on the second syllable as the main pronunciation.^[2] In British English stress on the first became usual during the first half of the 20th century, while American English still more often stresses the second.^[2]

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 s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c d 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)
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 d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins