Etymograph

English

dense

Dense comes from Latin dēnsus ‘dense, compact’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dens-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dens-‘thick, dense’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēnsus‘dense, compact’
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600dense
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1881same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dens-‘thick, dense’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēnsus‘dense, compact’
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600dense
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1881same form

Earliest quotation: 1881, Ernest William White, Cameos from the Silver-land: Or: “... mantling the slopes are other still denser forests,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dens- ‘thick, dense’

diego, didactic, 5 more

through Latin dēnsus ‘dense, compact’

condensation, 1 more

Today it means

adj Having relatively high density.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dens- / dense

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