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⇱ Reduce - Etymology, Origin & Meaning

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Origin and history of reduce

reduce(v.)

late 14c., reducen, "bring back" (to a place or state, a sense now obsolete), also "to diminish" (something), from Old French reducer (14c.), from Latin reducere "lead back, bring back," figuratively "restore, replace," from re- "back" (see re-) + ducere "bring, lead" (from PIE root *deuk- "to lead").

In Middle English largely with positive senses, including "bring back to virtue, restore to God; bring back to health." The specific meaning "bring to an inferior condition" is by 1570s; that of "bring to a lower rank" is by 1640s (military reduce to ranks is from 1802); that of "subdue by force of arms" is from 1610s. The sense of "to lower, diminish, lessen" is from 1787. Related: Reduced; reducing.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to reduce

also redout, "small, enclosed military work," c. 1600, from French redoute (17c.), from Italian ridotto, earlier ridotta, "place of retreat," from Medieval Latin reductus "place of refuge, retreat," noun use of past participle of reducere "to lead or bring back" (see reduce). The unetymological -b- was added by influence of unrelated and now obsolete English verb redoubt "to dread, fear" (see redoubtable). As an adjective, Latin reductus meant "withdrawn, retired; remote, distant."

reducible(adj.)

early 15c., "capable of being converted into or derived from," from Medieval Latin reducibilis (see reduce + -ible), and compare Old French redusible.

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early 15c., reduccioun, "a restoring to a former state" (a sense now obsolete), also "a conquest or subjugation" (of a people, etc.), from Old French reducion (13c., Modern French réduction) and directly from Latin reductionem (nominative reductio) "a leading back, restoration,"

c. 1200, gein, "advantage, benefit; help," c. 1300, "reward, profit, that which has been acquired" (possessions, resources, wealth), from Old French gain, gaaigne "gain, profit, advantage; work, business; booty; arable land" (12c.), from Germanic, and from Old Norse (see gain (v.

1550s, figurative, "to weaken, remove the strength or force of," from Latin dilutus, past participle of diluere "dissolve, wash away, dilute," from dis- "apart" (see dis-) + -luere, combining form of lavere "to wash" (from PIE root *leue- "to wash"). Literal sense of "render more

1580s, "reduce (a place) to ruin," transitive, from ruin (n.) or from French ruiner (14c.)....The financial sense of "reduce to poverty, wreck the finances of" is attested from 1650s. Related: Ruined; ruining....

early 15c., pulverisen, "reduce to powder or dust," from Late Latin pulverizare "reduce to powder or dust," from Latin pulvis...

1530s, "make thin, lean, slender, or rare; reduce in thickness or density" (the literal sense, now rare); from Latin extenuatus..., past participle of extenuare "lessen, make small, reduce, diminish, detract from," from ex "out" (see ex-) + tenuare "make...

from Latin redactus, past participle of redigere "to drive back, force back; bring back; collect, call in; bring down, reduce...Also in Middle English "to reduce" (to ashes, powder, etc.), early 15c....

c. 1200, "to alter, make different, change" (transitive); early 13c. as "to substitute one for another;" mid-13c. as "to make (something) other than what it was, cause to turn or pass from one state to another;" from late 13c. as "to become different, be altered" (intransitive),

Middle English bicomen, from Old English becuman "happen, come about, befall," also "meet with, fall in with; arrive, approach, enter," from Proto-Germanic *bikweman (source also of Dutch bekomen, Old High German biqueman "obtain," German bekommen, Gothic biquiman). A compound of

"to leap, spring upward, jump," 1590s, from French bondir "to rebound, resound, echo," from Old French bondir "to leap, jump, rebound;" originally "make a noise, sound (a horn), beat (a drum)," 13c., ultimately "to echo back," from Vulgar Latin *bombitire "to buzz, hum" (see bomb

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