outer English · revision 6613

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 1380}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈaʊtə/ ''(UK)''; /ˈaʊtɚ/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a new comparative formed from [[out]] and the comparative suffix [[-er]], on the model of [[inner]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) replacing [[utter]], from [[ang|ūterra|t=outer]], comparative of [[m|ang|ūt|t=out]], which by about 1400 had lost its connection with out and come to mean complete or total.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ On the outside: about 1380, in Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales'', and 1385, in ''Troilus and Criseyde'';^(Barnhart 1988) the late 14th century in Etymonline.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ External to the mind or soul, belonging to the objective world, is from about 1386.^(OED 1989) The ''outer man'', the body or outward appearance, is from before 1845, after ''inner man''.^(OED 1989) ''Outer space'' is from 1901, in H. G. Wells's ''The First Men in the Moon'',^(Barnhart 1988) or 1845 in Etymonline.^(Etymonline) As a noun, the outer is the part of a target outside the inner rings (1862).^(OED 1989)^(Collins 2023) In Australia, the outer is the unsheltered area of a sports ground.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1380 – outter, in Chaucer.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1386 – external to the mind.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1862 – the outer of a target.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1901 – outer space, in Wells.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # On or near the outside; [[external]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Further from the centre or middle: ''the outer suburbs''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Of the physical or objective world, not the mind.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The outermost ring of a target, or a shot that hits it.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[outerness]]

+ * [[outercoat]]

+ * [[outercourse]]

+ * [[outerwear]]

+ * [[come-outer]]

+ * [[out-and-outer]]

+ * [[Outer Mongolia]]

+ * [[outer space]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[out]]

+ * [[utter]]

+ * [[outermost]]

+ * [[inner]]

+ * [[outward]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}