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tabloid

Etymology and origin of the English word tabloid

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈtæblɔɪd/ (UK); /ˈtæbˌlɔɪd/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It began as Tabloid, a trademark registered in 1884 by Burroughs, Wellcome and Co. for compressed drugs and chemicals,[2][3][4][5] formed from tablet and -oid.[2][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small compressed tablet of a drug (1884).[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

By 1898 the word was used figuratively for a compressed form or dose of anything,[2][3][4] hence tabloid journalism (1900–01), condensed and often sensational.[2][3] From 1918 it named a newspaper of small page size with short articles, many pictures and sensational stories.[2][4] The concept was associated with the British newspaper owner Alfred Harmsworth.[3]

Timeline

  • 1884 – trademark for compressed drugs.[2][3][4]
  • 1898 – a compressed form of anything.[2][3][4]
  • 1901 – adjective, condensed, and tabloid journalism.[2][7][4]
  • 1918 – a small-format popular newspaper.[2][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A newspaper with pages about half the size of a standard broadsheet, giving the news in condensed form with many pictures.
  2. Such a newspaper featuring sensational stories of crime and scandal.
  3. A condensed version; a digest or summary.

Adjective

  1. Compressed or condensed into a small space.
  2. Sensational in the manner of popular newspapers.

Word family

  • tabloidism
  • tablet
  • table
  • -oid

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  6. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
Cite this entry

“Tabloid.” Etymologically, 11 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/tabloid. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·