English
arid
Arid may come from French aride ‘arid (very dry)’.
- Frenchc. 1600–presentaride‘arid (very dry)’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1956arid
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Frenchc. 1600–presentaride‘arid (very dry)’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1956arid
Earliest quotation: 1956, Arthur C. Clarke, The City and the Stars: “Such occupations might have seemed arid to those who…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂eHs- ‘to be dry, to dry’
are, star, ash, stellar, azalea, asterisk, ashy, ashen, areal, 5 more
through Latin āreō ‘to be dry’
through Latin āridus ‘dry, arid, parched’
Today it means
adj Very dry.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / French aride / arid