hygiene (n.)

1670s, from French hygiène, ultimately from Greek hygieine techne "the healthful art," from hygies "healthy, sound, hearty," literally "living well" (personified as the goddess Hygieia), from PIE *eyu-gwie-es- "having a vigorous life," from root *aiw-, *ayu- "vital force, life, long life, eternity; in the prime of life, young" (source of Latin aevus, English ever). The Greek adjective was used by Aristotle as a noun meaning "health." The difficult spelling in English is a relic of the struggle to render the Greek vowels into French.

also from 1670s

Entries linking to hygiene

hygienic (adj.)

1815, from French hygiénique (1812), from hygiène (see hygiene). The earlier adjective was hygienal (1660s). Related: Hygienics (1836).

hygienist (n.)

1836, "an expert on cleanliness," from hygiene + -ist. Earlier was hygeist (1716). Dental sense is recorded by 1913.

*aiw-

also *ayu-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "vital force, life; long life, eternity."

It forms all or part of: age; aught (n.1) "something; anything;" aye (adv.) "always, ever;" Ayurvedic; coetaneous; coeval; each; eon; eternal; eternity; ever; every; ewigkeit; hygiene; longevity; medieval; nay; never; no; primeval; sempiternal; tarnation; utopia.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit ayu- "life;" Avestan aiiu "age, life(time);" Greek aiōn "age, vital force; a period of existence, a lifetime, a generation; a long space of time," in plural, "eternity;" Latin aevum "space of time, eternity;" Gothic aiws "age, eternity," Old Norse ævi "lifetime," German ewig "everlasting," Old English a "ever, always."

Trends of hygiene

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to Explore

a.s.a.p.

Fancher, D.D.S., "The Practical Application of the Dental Hygienist in General Practice," in Oral Hygiene, March 1920) also...

sanitary

1823, "pertaining to health or hygiene," from French sanitaire (1812), from Latin sanitas "health," from sanus "healthy;...

medicine

c. 1200, "medical treatment, cure, healing," also (early 14c.) "substance used in treatment of a disease, medicinal potion or plaster," also used figuratively of spiritual remedies, from Old French medecine (Modern French médicine) "medicine, art of healing, cure, treatment, poti

ever

Old English æfre "ever, at any time, always;" of uncertain origin, no cognates in any other Germanic language; perhaps a contraction of a in feore, literally "ever in life" (the expression a to fore is common in Old English writings). First element is almost certainly related to

snow

Middle English snou, from Old English snaw "snow, that which falls as snow; a fall of snow; a snowstorm," from Proto-Germanic *snaiwaz (source also of Old Saxon and Old High German sneo, Old Frisian and Middle Low German sne, Middle Dutch snee, Dutch sneeuw, German Schnee, Old No

watershed

"line separating waters flowing into different rivers," 1803, from water (n.1) + shed in a topographical sense of "ridge of high ground between two valleys or lower ground, a divide," for which see shed (n.2). Perhaps a loan-translation of German Wasser-scheide. Figurative sense

pharmacy

late 14c., farmacie, "a medicine that rids the body of an excess of humors (except blood);" also "treatment with medicine; theory of treatment with medicine," from Old French farmacie "a purgative" (13c.) and directly from Medieval Latin pharmacia, from Greek pharmakeia "a healin

brunch

1896, British student slang merger of breakfast and lunch. ACCORDING to the Lady, to be fashionable nowadays we must "brunch." Truly an excellent portmanteau word, introduced, by the way, last year, by Mr GUY BERINGER, in the now defunct Hunter's Weekly, and indicating a combine

typhoon

Tiphon "violent storm, whirlwind, tornado," 1550s, from Greek typhon "whirlwind," personified as a giant, father of the winds, probably [Beekes] from or related to typhein "to smoke" (see typhus), but according to Watkins from PIE *dheub- "deep, hollow," via notion of "monster fr

quench

Middle English quenchen, "to extinguish, put out" (heat, light, fire, also of desire, hunger, thirst), also figurative, "to bring to naught, eliminate, render ineffectual" (c. 1200), Old English acwencan "to quench" (of fire, light), from Proto-Germanic *kwenkjanan, probably a ca

Share hygiene

‘cite’

Page URL:

https://www.etymonline.com/word/hygiene

HTML Link:

<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/hygiene">Etymology of hygiene by etymonline</a>

APA style:

Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of hygiene. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved $(datetime), from https://www.etymonline.com/word/hygiene

Chicago style:

Harper Douglas, “Etymology of hygiene,” Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed $(datetime), https://www.etymonline.com/word/hygiene.

MLA style:

Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of hygiene.” Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/hygiene. Accessed $(datetimeMla).

IEEE style:

D. Harper. “Etymology of hygiene.” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/hygiene (accessed $(datetime)).

updated on December 15, 2017

Remove ads >

Trending words

1. teacher
2. autumn
3. empathy
4. philadelphia
5. research
6. vote
7. pan
8. deluge
9. humble
10. compassion

Dictionary entries near hygiene

hydroxide

Hydrus

hyena

hyetal

hyeto-

hygiene

hygienic

hygienist

hygro-

hygrology

hygrometer