cell English · revision 2807

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1131|origins=ine-pro *ḱel-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /sel/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|celle]],^(MWU 2024) from [[ang|cell]],^(Barnhart 1988) [[bor|la|cella|t=small room, storeroom, hut]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) later reinforced by Old French celle.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) Latin cella is related to [[m|la|cēlāre|t=to hide, conceal]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from [[ine-pro|*ḱel-|alt=*kel-|t=to cover, conceal]],^(Etymonline) the root of [[hall]], [[hell]] and [[conceal]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A small monastery dependent on a larger one: before 1131, in the ''Peterborough Chronicle'',^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) from Medieval Latin.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A small room for a monk or hermit is from about 1300^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) (about 1305 in the OED),^(OED 1989) and in Late Latin cella already meant a monk's cell.^(Cresswell 2021) From the monastic room the sense extended to a prison room (1722).^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) In the 14th century the word was used of the compartments of the brain where the faculties were thought to dwell, as in Gower's ''Confessio Amantis'' (1393).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) In the 17th century it named various cavities, such as those of a honeycomb or of wood (1672–73),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) and gradually focused on the basic unit of living organisms, recorded in this sense from 1845.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The electric cell is by 1828, from the compartments of early batteries,^(Etymonline) and a small group within an organization, as of a political party, by 1925.^(Etymonline) ''Cell'' for a cellphone, from ''cellular'', was first heard in the US in the late 1980s.^(Dalzell 2013)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1131 – a small dependent monastery.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1300 – a monk's or hermit's room.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1393 – a compartment of the brain.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1672 – a small cavity.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1722 – a prison cell.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1828 – an electric cell.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1845 – the unit of living organisms.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1925 – a small political group.^(Etymonline)

+ * late 1980s – a cellphone.^(Dalzell 2013)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A small room, as in a [[prison]] or [[monastery]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # The smallest unit of a living [[organism]], made of [[cytoplasm]] usually with a [[nucleus]] and enclosed in a membrane.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A small compartment, as of a [[honeycomb]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A device that produces electricity by chemical action; a unit of a [[battery]].^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # A small group acting as a unit within a larger organization.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # ''(chiefly US, informal)'' A [[cellphone]].^(Dalzell 2013)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cell-like]]

+ * [[cellhouse]]

+ * [[intercell]]

+ * [[photocell]]

+ * [[subcell]]

+ * [[cellblock]]

+ * [[cellmate]]

+ * [[half-cell]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cellar]]

+ * [[cellular]]

+ * [[cellule]]

+ * [[conceal]]

+ * [[hell]]

+ * [[hall]]

+ * [[occult]]

+ * [[cellphone]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A separate ''cell'', also spelled ''cel'', a transparent celluloid sheet used in animation, is a mid-20th-century shortening of [[celluloid]].^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}