tepid

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English tepide,^[2][3] borrowed from Latin tepidus (“lukewarm”),^{[4][3][5][6][7]} from tepeō (“to be moderately warm”),^[3][5][8][9] from Proto-Indo-European *tep- (“to be warm”).^[3][5][8] The OED notes the parallel Middle French tépide, recorded in the 16th century.^[4][2] The Latin verb is related to Old Irish tene (“fire”), Welsh tes (“heat”)^[3][10] and Tocharian B tsāp- (“to make lukewarm”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Moderately warm, lukewarm, of liquids: about 1400, in Lanfranc's Cirurgie, which speaks of teped oilis.^[4][2][3] Barnhart dates it to before 1400 in the same work.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense is used mostly of liquids.^[4][11] A figurative sense, lacking warmth of feeling or enthusiasm, like lukewarm, is recorded from 1513, in Gavin Douglas's translation of the Aeneid,^[4] or the 1510s in Etymonline,^[3] and the Shorter Oxford dates it to the early 16th century.^[11] Johnson (1755) defined it as "lukewarm; warm in a small degree", quoting Milton and Dryden.^[12] The noun tepidity followed in the mid-17th century.^[11] The related tepidarium was the room of a Roman bath-house for the warm bath.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – lukewarm, of liquids.^[4][2]
• 1513 – figurative, unenthusiastic, half-hearted.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Slightly warm; lukewarm: He let the tea go tepid while he read.^[13][9][4]
2. Showing little enthusiasm or energy; half-hearted: The new album got a tepid response from critics.^[13][9][4]

Word family

• tepidity
• tepidly
• tepidness
• subtepid

Related words

• tepidarium

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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)
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 i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins