notebook English · revision 39970

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=1565}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˈnəʊtˌbʊk/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈnoʊtˌbʊk/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a compound of [[note]] and [[book]].^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Dictionary.com 2016)^(Johnson 1755)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A small book in which notes or memoranda are written: the OED's first quotation is from Thomas Dorman (1565);^(OED 2026) Merriam-Webster dates the word 1568, and Etymonline the 1570s.^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Johnson (1755) defined the word as a book for setting down notes and memoranda, quoting Shakespeare's ''Julius Caesar'', where Cassius's faults are "set in a note-book, learn'd, and conn'd by rote".^(Johnson 1755) Merriam-Webster also lists the student's book of blank pages for taking notes in class.^(MWU 2024) Collins records a second sense, a book for registering promissory notes.^(Collins 2023) The newest sense, a small portable computer, is recorded from 1988;^(OED 2026) it later meant especially a small, slim laptop.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1565 – a book for writing notes in.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1568 – the word, as Merriam-Webster dates it.^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1755 – in Johnson's Dictionary.^(Johnson 1755)

+ * 1988 – a small portable computer.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A small book with blank or lined pages for writing [[note|alt=notes]] in: ''She kept a notebook by the bed to record her dreams.''^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # A small, light portable [[computer]]; a [[laptop]].^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # A book for recording promissory notes.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[subnotebook]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[note]]

+ * [[book]]

+ * [[notepad]]

+ * [[laptop]]

+ * [[jotter]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}