trend

Pronunciation

• IPA: /trend/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English trenden (“to roll, turn, revolve”), inherited from Old English trendan (“to turn round, revolve, roll”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *trandijaną,^[2][3] related to Old English trinde “round lump, ball” and trendel “circle, ring”, Old Frisian trind “round” and Middle Low German trent “ring, boundary”.^[2][3][5] Its origin outside Germanic is uncertain.^[2] It is related to trundle.^[3][4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To turn round, revolve, roll: before 1000 in the OED and Barnhart.^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

In 1598, in Hakluyt's Voyages, it was used of rivers and coasts running or bending in a certain direction.^[3][2] This nautical sense led to “to have a general tendency”, of events or opinions, by 1863.^[3][2][6] The noun first meant a rounded bend of a stream (about 1630),^[3][7] then the general direction of a coast or river (1777),^[3][2][7] and figuratively the general course or tendency of things from 1884.^[3][2][7] A prevailing new fashion in popular culture is from about 1950,^[2] and trendy from 1962.^[3] In Middle English trending meant circular motion.^[2]

Timeline

• a. 1000 – to revolve, roll.^[7][3]
• 1598 – of a coast, to run in a direction.^[3]
• c. 1630 – noun, a bend of a stream.^[7]
• 1777 – noun, a general direction.^[2][3]
• 1863 – to tend.^[3][2]
• 1884 – a tendency.^[2][7]
• c. 1950 – a fashion.^[2]
• 1962 – trendy.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A general direction in which something is developing or changing.
2. A current fashion or style.

Verb

1. To develop or extend in a general direction.
2. Of a topic, to be very popular on social media at a particular time.

Word family

• countertrend
• megatrend
• subtrend
• trendoid
• trendsetter
• trendsetting
• downtrend
• uptrend

Related words

• trundle
• trendy

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 k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press