population English · revision 3267

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1578|origins=la populus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˌpɒp.jəˈleɪ.ʃən/, US /ˌpɑː.pjəˈleɪ.ʃən/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la-lat|populātiō|t=a people, a multitude]] (accusative populātiōnem),^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002) as if from [[la|populus|t=a people]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) the source of [[people]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A peopled or inhabited place: 1578, now obsolete.^(OED 1989)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The whole number of the inhabitants of a country or town, or the degree to which it is peopled, is from 1612^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024) or the 1610s.^(Etymonline) The act or process of peopling a country is from 1776.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) The word was extended to animals and plants from 1803,^(OED 1989) to the whole set of items studied in statistics from 1877,^(OED 1989) and to a breeding group in genetics from 1889.^(OED 1989) The inmates of a prison are its population from 1950.^(OED 1989) ''Population explosion'' is attested by 1953.^(Etymonline) In Wiltshire and Devon ''population'' was a dialect form of “palpitation”, as in ''population of the heart''.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1578 – an inhabited place.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1612 – the number of inhabitants.^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1776 – the peopling of a place.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1803 – of animals and plants.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1877 – in statistics.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1953 – ''population explosion''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # All the people living in a particular place.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # The total number of such people.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # A particular group of people or animals in an area: ''the elderly population''.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # ''(biology)'' All the [[organism|alt=organisms]] of one [[species]] living in an area.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # ''(statistics)'' The whole group of items from which a [[sample]] is taken.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[populational]]

+ * [[populationless]]

+ * [[intrapopulation]]

+ * [[overpopulation]]

+ * [[repopulation]]

+ * [[subpopulation]]

+ * [[superpopulation]]

+ * [[population genetics]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[popular]]

+ * [[populate]]

+ * [[populous]]

+ * [[people]]

+ * [[public]]

+ * [[depopulate]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ An obsolete ''population'', “devastation, laying waste”, from 1552, is a different word.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}