humidity English · revision 39391

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1400, Lanfranc's Cirurgie|origins=la hūmidus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /hjuːˈmɪd.ə.ti/, /hjuːˈmɪd.ɪ.ti/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /hjuˈmɪd.ə.ti/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|humidite]], [[bor|fro|humidité|t=dampness]],^(AHD 2024)^(Etymonline)^(OED 2026) from [[la|hūmiditās|t=moisture]],^(Etymonline)^(Klein 1966) from [[m|la|hūmidus|t=moist, wet]].^(AHD 2024)^(Etymonline) The AHD calls the Latin noun Medieval Latin, and Merriam-Webster Late Latin;^(AHD 2024)^(MWU 2024) the Oxford Dictionary of English allows a borrowing from either French or Latin.^(ODE 2010) In Anglo-Norman the noun was recorded in the early 13th century as one of the four qualities associated with the humours.^(AND)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the plural, the humours and juices of animals and plants, about 1400, in Lanfranc's Cirurgie.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Lydgate used it in 1412–20 for moisture itself, the fluid that makes something damp,^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) and by about 1450 it meant the quality or condition of being damp.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) Johnson (1755) defined it as the power of wetting other bodies.^(Johnson 1755) The modern meteorological sense, a measure of the moisture in the air compared with the amount that would saturate it, dates from 1820; the full phrase ''relative humidity'' is recorded by 1819.^(Etymonline) Meteorologists also speak of ''absolute humidity'', the mass of water vapour in a given volume of air.^(SOED 2002)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1400 – plural, humours and juices of animals and plants.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1412–20 – moisture, damp (Lydgate).^(OED 2026)

+ * c. 1450 – the condition of being damp.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1755 – Johnson defines it as the power of wetting other bodies.^(Johnson 1755)

+ * 1819 – ''relative humidity''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1820 – a measure of moisture in the air.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Dampness, especially of the [[air]].^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The amount of [[water vapour]] in the air; [[relative humidity]].^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[absolute humidity]]

+ * [[relative humidity]]

+ * [[specific humidity]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[humid]]

+ * [[humidifier]]

+ * [[humidify]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}