terminal

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈtɜː.mɪ.nəl/, US /ˈtɝː.mɪ.nəl/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin terminālis (“of a boundary or end, final”),^[2][3][4][5] from terminus (“end, boundary line”) (see term and terminus) and the suffix -ālis (see -al).^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Relating to or marking a boundary, limit or end: 1459 in Barnhart;^[2] final, ultimate, in the mid-15th century, and relating to boundaries in the late 15th century, in Etymonline.^[3] The OED's first use is a heraldic term of 1486.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Placed at the boundary of a region, as a landmark, is from 1744,^[6][3] and the scientific sense, situated at the end or extremity, as a terminal bud, from 1805.^[2][3] Concluding or final, as in a terminal syllable, is from 1827 in Barnhart and 1831 in the OED.^[2][6] Of a disease or a case, ending in death, is from 1891 in Barnhart, by 1862 in Etymonline,^[2][3] and the slang sense “extreme” is from 1973.^[3] The noun was first the final syllable or letter of a word (1831), then by 1838 a terminal part, originally of the clamping screws at the ends of a battery.^[3][2] The station at the end of a railway line is by 1870, extended to airlines by 1921,^[3] and the device for entering and receiving computer data is recorded by 1954.^[3] Terminal velocity of a falling body is by 1745.^[3]

Timeline

• 1459 – marking a boundary or end.^[2]
• 1805 – at the end of a part, in science.^[2][3]
• 1831 – the noun, a final syllable.^[3][6]
• 1838 – an electrical terminal.^[3]
• 1870 – a railway terminal.^[3]
• 1891 – fatal, of a disease.^[2]
• 1921 – an air terminal.^[3]
• 1954 – a computer terminal.^[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. At, forming or relating to an end, limit or boundary.
2. Of a disease, ending in death; of a patient, dying of such a disease.
3. (botany) Growing at the end of a stem or branch.
4. (informal) Extreme and beyond cure: terminal boredom.

Noun

1. A station at the end of a railway, bus or air route, or a building where passengers arrive and leave.
2. A point in an electric circuit or device at which a connection is made.
3. A device with a keyboard and screen for entering and receiving data from a computer.
4. An ornamental figure placed at the end of a structure; a finial.

Word family

• terminally
• nonterminal
• interterminal
• preterminal
• subterminal
• terminal moraine
• terminal velocity
• terminal leave

Related words

• term
• terminable
• terminate
• terminus
• determine
• exterminate

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press