turn

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /tɜːn/, US /tɝːn/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English turnen, inherited from Old English turnian (also tyrnan), borrowed from Latin tornāre (“to turn on a lathe, round off”),^[2][3][4] from tornus (“lathe”), from Ancient Greek τόρνος (tórnos, “lathe, tool for drawing circles”),^[2][3][4] which Watkins traces to Proto-Indo-European *terə- (“to rub, turn”).^[2][4] In Middle English it was reinforced by Old French torner, from the same Latin verb.^[5][6][3] The noun comes partly from Anglo-French tourn, Old French torn, and partly from the verb.^[2][7][8] It is related to tour.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To rotate, revolve: Old English turnian, about 1000.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Hoad notes that the verb developed a great many senses from the two ideas of rotation and of turning aside from a course.^[6] “To change direction” and “to change into something else” are from the late 12th century, and of the tide, “to reverse”, from about 1300.^[2] Etymonline thinks many of the figurative senses grew from shaping wood on a lathe, recorded in English from the mid-14th century.^[2] The noun meant a rotation or a wrestling move in the 13th century, a good or bad deed from about 1300, one's time in a series from the early 14th century, and a bend in a road from the early 15th.^[2] A short performance on stage has been a turn since the early 18th century, from the idea of one's turn.^[9] Turn over a new leaf, a leaf of a book, is from the mid-16th century.^[9] Turncoat is from 1557, turnkey from 1654, turnstile from before 1643, turnover as a tart from 1798 and as business done from 1879, and turntable from 1835.^[3] Turnpike meant a spiked barrier about 1420 and a toll gate before 1678.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – Old English turnian.^[3]
• late 12th century – to change direction; to change into.^[2]
• 13th century – noun, a rotation.^[2]
• c. 1300 – a deed, as in a good turn.^[2]
• early 14th century – one's turn in a series.^[2]
• c. 1420 – turnpike.^[3]
• mid-16th century – turn over a new leaf.^[9]
• 1557 – turncoat.^[3]
• early 18th century – a stage act.^[9]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To move around an axis; to rotate or make rotate.
2. To change or make change direction or position.
3. To change or be changed into something else; to become: turn pale.
4. To operate by turning: turn the key.
5. To shape on a lathe.
6. To go through pages to reach a place.

Noun

1. An act of turning; a rotation.
2. A change of direction, or a place where a road bends.
3. A change in the course of events.
4. An opportunity or duty coming in order: your turn.
5. A deed: a good turn.
6. A short stage performance.

Word family

• turnable
• counterturn
• about-turn
• ampere-turn
• downturn
• inturn
• outturn
• overturn

Related words

• return
• turnabout
• turncoat
• turning
• turnout
• turnover
• turnpike
• turnstile
• turntable
• tour
• turner

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary calls turn the most general of turn, rotate, revolve, spin, whirl and circle, all meaning to move in a circle.^[10]

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin