Etymograph

English

liquid

Liquid comes from Middle English liquide, from Old French liquide, from Latin liquidus ‘fluid’, from liqueō ‘to be liquid’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEliqueō1‘to be liquid’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEliquidus1‘fluid’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400liquide1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500liquide1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1996liquid1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English liquid
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1996, Adrian Room, An Alphabetical Guide to the Language of Name Studies: “Many female forenames are regarded as euphonyms. What is…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEliqueōWiktionary, English liquid‘to be liquid’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEliquidusWiktionary, English liquid‘fluid’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400liquideWiktionary, English liquid
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500liquideWiktionary, English liquid
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1996liquidWiktionary, English liquid. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1996, Adrian Room, An Alphabetical Guide to the Language of Name Studies: “Many female forenames are regarded as euphonyms. What is…”

The story

As a term for a consonant, it comes from Latin liquida (cōnsōnāns), a calque of Ancient Greek ὑγρὸν (σύμφωνον) (hugròn (súmphōnon), “liquid consonant”).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

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Today it means

noun A substance that is flowing, and keeping no shape, such as water; a substance of which the molecules, while not tending to separate from one another like those of a gas, readily change their relative position, and which therefore retains no definite shape, except that determined by the containing receptacle; an inelastic fluid.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “liquid”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin liqueō / liquid