growth English · revision 3301

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1557}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ɡrəʊθ/, US /ɡroʊθ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed [[af|en|grow|-th]], on the model of [[health]] and [[stealth]].^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) Merriam-Webster derives it from Middle English (Scots) grouth, from [[non|grōthr]] or grōthi, from [[m|non|grōa|t=to grow]].^(MWU 2024) Etymonline compares Old Norse groði.^(Etymonline) Old English used grōwnes, “increase, prosperity”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ “A stage in growing; size or stature reached by growing”: 1557,^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024) or the 1550s;^(Etymonline) SOED dates the word to late Middle English.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ “That which has grown, produce” is from 1580,^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) and the action or process of growing from 1587^(OED 1989) or the 1580s.^(Etymonline) A wine or vineyard ''of'' a certain growth is from 1657,^(OED 1989) and the French classification of vineyards by ''growths'' from 1707.^(OED 1989) An abnormal growth in the body, a tumour, is from 1847,^(OED 1989) and growth in economics, of output or income, from 1952.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1557 – size reached by growing.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1580 – that which has grown.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1587 – the process of growing.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1707 – a growth of wine.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1847 – a morbid formation.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1952 – economic growth.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The process of growing; [[development]].^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # An increase in size, number, value or strength; [[expansion]].^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # Something that grows or has grown: ''a growth of weeds''.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # An abnormal mass of tissue, such as a [[tumour]].^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # ''(economics)'' An increase in a country's [[economic]] output or [[income]].^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[growthy]]

+ * [[outgrowth]]

+ * [[overgrowth]]

+ * [[undergrowth]]

+ * [[old-growth]]

+ * [[aftergrowth]]

+ * [[antigrowth]]

+ * [[ingrowth]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[grow]]

+ * [[grown]]

+ * [[green]]

+ * [[grass]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In Scots ''growth'' was also an excrescence on the body, and in Banffshire ''growth o' the sea'' was a swell.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}