fluid English · revision 6449

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1425|origins=la fluo}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈfluːɪd/ ''(UK)''; /ˈflu.ɪd/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|frm|fluide]] or directly [[bor|la|fluidus|t=flowing, moist]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from [[m|la|fluo|alt=fluere|t=to flow]] (see [[fluent]]).^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Liquid, capable of flowing: probably before 1425, in a translation of Chauliac's ''Grande Chirurgie'';^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) the OED's first example is from 1603.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Figuratively, not fixed or rigid, of non-material things, it is from the 1640s, 1642 in the OED.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) Of speech, flowing easily, it is from 1691.^(OED 1989) The noun, a substance whose particles move freely, a liquid or gas, is from 1661, in Robert Boyle's treatise on air.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) A liquid of the body or a plant is from 1704.^(OED 1989) In older physics, electricity and magnetism were thought of as subtle fluids (1750).^(OED 1989) [[fluidity|alt=Fluidity]] is from 1603, in Florio's Montaigne.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1425 – flowing, liquid.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1603 – fluidity.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1642 – not rigid, figuratively.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1661 – the noun, in Boyle.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1704 – a body fluid.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A substance, such as a [[liquid]] or [[gas]], that flows and takes the shape of its container.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Able to flow easily; not solid.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Smooth and graceful: ''fluid movements''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Not fixed; likely to change: ''a fluid situation''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fluidity]]

+ * [[fluidly]]

+ * [[fluidness]]

+ * [[fluidal]]

+ * [[fluidally]]

+ * [[fluidlike]]

+ * [[superfluid]]

+ * [[nonfluid]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fluctuate]]

+ * [[fluctuation]]

+ * [[fluency]]

+ * [[fluent]]

+ * [[flux]]

+ * [[fluidic]]

+ * [[fluidics]]

+ * [[fluidize]]

+ * [[semifluid]]

+ * [[influence]]

+ * [[superfluous]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}