surplus

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈsɜːpləs/ (UK); /ˈsɝˌplʌs/, /ˈsɝpləs/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English surplus, borrowed from Old French surplus (Old French also sorplus (“remainder, extra”)),^[2][3][4] from Medieval Latin superplūs (“excess, surplus”),^[2][3] from super- (“over, in addition”) and plūs (“more”) (see plus).^[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

What remains over and above what is used or needed: about 1374 in the OED, about 1385 in Barnhart (Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde).^[6][2] The adjective is found before 1382, in the Wycliffe Bible.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The remainder, the rest, is an obsolete sense from about 1400.^[6] Surplus value in economics, especially in Marxism, is from 1816,^[6] and in transferable-vote elections the votes beyond the quota from 1926.^[6] Shops selling military surplus are from 1951.^[6] In accounting, surplus is an excess of assets over liabilities or of income over spending.^[7][8]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – a remaining amount.^[6]
• before 1382 – surplus (adjective).^[2]
• 1816 – surplus value.^[6]
• 1951 – surplus stores.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An amount more than what is needed; an excess.
2. (accounting) An excess of assets over liabilities, or of income over spending.

Adjective

1. More than what is needed: surplus stock.

Word family

• capital surplus
• surplus value

Related words

• plus
• surplusage
• super-
• plural

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins