evolve English · revision 39548

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1597, Bishop John King, Lectures upon Jonas|origins=la volvō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ɪˈvɒlv/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ɪˈvɑlv/, /-ˈvɔlv/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|ēvolvō|t=to roll out, unroll, unfold]],^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024)^(SOED 2002) used especially of unrolling a book and, figuratively, of making clear or developing.^(Etymonline)^(OED 2026) The verb is made of [[m|la|ē-]], a form of [[m|la|ex-|t=out]], and [[m|la|volvō|t=to roll]],^(AHD 2024)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) which Etymonline and the AHD trace to [[ine-pro|*wel-|t=to turn, revolve]].^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024) Barnhart allows that the English verb was possibly formed from [[evolution]] on the Latin model.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To draw out, release, bring to light: 1597, in Bishop John King's ''Lectures upon Jonas'', according to the OED's revised entry of 2008.^(OED 2026) Other dictionaries date the word later: Merriam-Webster to 1623, Etymonline to the 1640s ("to unfold, open out, expand"), Dictionary.com to 1635–45 and Barnhart to before 1641.^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline)^(Dictionary.com 2016)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The early senses follow the Latin: to unfold or unroll, to open out, to examine a thought in depth (1623),^(OED 2026) and Johnson (1755) gave only "to unfold; to disentangle".^(Johnson 1755) Mathematicians used it for winding a curve (1689) and for extracting a root (1707), and chemists from 1772 for giving off gas or heat.^(OED 2026) At the start of the 19th century Coleridge used it for deriving an idea or principle (1801) and for developing something by natural, gradual change (1805).^(OED 2026) The intransitive sense "to develop into a more complex form" is found from about 1831,^(OED 2026) and Etymonline dates "to develop by natural processes to a higher state" to 1832.^(Etymonline) In that year the geologist Charles Lyell used ''evolution'' and ''evolve'' for the development of animals and plants from earlier forms, and Darwin took up ''evolution'' in ''The Origin of Species'' (1859).^(Barnhart 1988) The Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins notes that the current senses grew out of the idea of opening out and unfolding.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1597 – to draw out, disclose.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1623 – to unfold, open out.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1689 – to wind or unwind; in geometry, to generate an evolute.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1707 – to extract a root.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1772 – to give off gas or heat.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1801 – to derive or work out an idea.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1805 – to develop by gradual natural change.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1832 – of living things, to develop from earlier forms.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1920 – (US) to become known.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[develop]] gradually, or cause to develop: ''The club evolved from a group of friends who met to play chess.''^(Collins 2023)^(AHD 2024)

+ # (biology) Of species: to change over generations through [[evolution]]; also, to develop (a feature) in this way.^(Collins 2023)^(AHD 2024)

+ # To work out or devise: ''She evolved a method for sorting the archive.''^(AHD 2024)^(MWU 2024)

+ # To give off ([[heat]], [[gas]], etc.).^(Collins 2023)^(AHD 2024)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[evolvable]]

+ * [[evolvement]]

+ * [[evolver]]

+ * [[coevolve]]

+ * [[nonevolving]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[evolute]]

+ * [[evolution]]

+ * [[evolutive]]

+ * [[revolve]]

+ * [[involve]]

+ * [[devolve]]

+ * [[volume]]

+ * [[voluble]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}