Etymologically
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uniform

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈjuː.nɪ.fɔːm/, US /ˈjuː.nə.fɔːrm/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French uniforme and directly borrowed from Latin ūniformis (“having only one form or shape”),[2][3][4][5] from ūni- “one” (see uni-) and forma “form” (see form).[2][3] The noun is from French uniforme, a noun use of the adjective.[5][2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of one form, character or kind: 1540 in Barnhart and the OED;[3][7] Etymonline has the late 15th century, and uniformly from the mid-15th.[2]

Semantic evolution

The noun first appears in the phrase in uniform, in one body or flock, in 1623, a sense now gone.[7][3] The distinctive dress worn by all members of a group, at first military, is from 1748;[2][3][7] worn by a civilian body it is from 1837, and a single suit of it from 1783.[7] The customary dress of a type of person, as in the uniform of a city worker, is from 1930,[7] and a person in uniform, especially a police officer, by 1978,[2][7] a use that Etymonline compares with suit for a businessman (1979).[2] The verb, to make alike, is from the 1680s,[2] and to dress in uniform from 1861, during the American Civil War.[2] Uniformity is from probably before 1425.[3] Uniform is also the code word for the letter U in radio communication.[8]

Timeline

  • 1540 – of one form.[3][7]
  • 1623 – in uniform, in one body.[7]
  • 1680s – the verb, to make alike.[2]
  • 1748 – military uniform.[2][7]
  • 1837 – civilian uniform.[7]
  • 1861 – to dress in uniform.[2]
  • 1978 – a uniformed police officer.[2][7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Always the same; not varying: a uniform temperature.
  2. Conforming to the same rule or standard; consistent.
  3. Alike in texture, colour or design.

Noun

  1. A distinctive set of clothes worn by the members of a group, such as soldiers or schoolchildren.
  2. (informal) A police officer who wears a uniform.

Verb

  1. To make uniform, or to dress in a uniform.

Word family

  • uniformity
  • uniformly
  • uniformness
  • uniformize

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins