Etymologically
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vacuum

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈvæ.kjuːm/, /ˈvæ.kjuː.əm/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin vacuum (“an empty space, a void”), the noun use of the neuter of vacuus (“empty”),[2][3][4][5] related to vacāre, to be empty (see vacant),[3][2][4] from an extended form of PIE *h₁weh₂-, to leave, abandon.[3] It is properly a loan translation of Greek kenón, that which is empty.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Emptiness of space, space void of matter: 1550, in Thomas Cranmer.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The Century Dictionary noted that Parmenides and Melissus held a vacuum to be impossible, a doctrine Aristotle favoured, and that the scholastics upheld the maxim that nature abhors a vacuum.[3] An empty space left unfilled is from 1589, and figurative uses from 1617.[6] A space empty of air is first recorded in 1652.[2][6] A vacuum tube was first (1784) an evacuated pipe through which objects were driven by air, and a sealed glass electronic tube by 1859.[3] The vacuum cleaner is from 1903, the short form vacuum American English by 1910,[3][6][2] and the verb, to clean with one, by 1913 (1922 in MWU).[3][4]

Timeline

  • 1550 – empty space.[2]
  • 1617 – figurative uses.[6]
  • 1652 – a space empty of air.[2]
  • 1903 – vacuum cleaner.[3]
  • 1913 – the verb.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A space completely empty of matter, or one in which the gas pressure is very low.
  2. A state or feeling of emptiness; a void.
  3. Isolation from outside influences: to work in a vacuum.
  4. A vacuum cleaner.

Verb

  1. To clean with a vacuum cleaner.

Word family

  • vacuumize
  • nonvacuum
  • vacuum-pack
  • vacuum-packed
  • partial vacuum
  • vacuum aspiration
  • vacuum bottle
  • vacuum distillation

Usage notes

The plural is vacuums or, in technical use, vacua.[7]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins