Etymologically
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valve

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 14:06. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /vælv/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin valva (“leaf of a folding door”) (usually plural valvae, a folding door),[2][3][4][5] literally that which turns, related to volvere (“to roll”) (see volume),[3][2] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to turn, revolve”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

One of the halves of a folding door: before 1387, in Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

A membranous fold that regulates the flow of body fluids is first recorded in 1615,[2][3] a mechanical device that works like it in 1659,[2][3] and in zoology one of the halves of a hinged shell in 1661.[2][6] Word Origins describes the development as from a door leaf to a lid or flap controlling the passage of gas or fluid in the mid-17th century.[7] A door controlling the flow of water in a sluice is from 1790.[6] The verb, to provide with a valve, is rare, from the mid-19th century.[8]

Timeline

  • before 1387 – a leaf of a folding door.[2]
  • 1615 – in anatomy.[2]
  • 1659 – a mechanical valve.[2]
  • 1661 – half of a shell.[2]
  • 1790 – a sluice gate.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A device that starts, stops or controls the flow of a fluid or gas.
  2. (anatomy) A fold in a hollow organ, such as the heart or a vein, that prevents fluid from flowing back.
  3. (zoology) Either half of a hinged shell.

Verb

  1. To provide with, or control by, a valve.

Word family

  • valveless
  • valved
  • valvelike

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ 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 c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press