Etymology
Advertisement

sterile (adj.)

mid-15c., "barren," from Old French stérile "not producing fruit" and directly from Latin sterilis "barren, unproductive, unfruitful; unrequited; unprofitable," from PIE *ster- "lacking, sterile," source also of Sanskrit starih "a barren cow," Greek steira "sterile, infertile" (of a cow, goat, woman), Armenian sterj "infertile," perhaps ultimately from root *ster- (1) "stiff." Originally in English with reference to soil; of persons (chiefly females), from 1530s. The sense of "sterilized, free from living germs" is first recorded 1877.

Entries linking to sterile

*ster- (1)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "stiff."

It forms all or part of: cholesterol; redstart; starch; stare; stark; stark-naked; start; startle; starve; stere; stereo-; stern (adj.); stork; strut; torpedo; torpid; torpor.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Greek stereos "solid," sterizein "to support," sterphnios "stiff, rigid," sterphos "hide, skin;" Sanskrit sthirah "hard, firm," Persian suturg "strong;" Lithuanian storas "thick," strėgti "to become frozen;" Old Church Slavonic trupeti, Lithuanian tirpstu, tirpti "to become rigid;" Old Church Slavonic strublu "strong, hard," staru "old" (hence Russian stary "old"); Old English starian "to stare," stearc "stiff, strong, rigid," steorfan "to die," literally "become stiff," styrne "severe, strict."

sterility (n.)

early 15c., sterilite, "infertility, barrenness, incapacity to produce children," from Old French sterilite, from Latin sterilitatem (nominative sterilitas) "unfruitfulness, barrenness," from sterilis (see sterile).

sterilize (v.)
"destroy the fertility of," 1690s (in reference to soil), from French stériliser or else from sterile + -ize; of living things from 1828. Meaning "render free of micro-organisms" is from 1878. Related: Sterilized; sterilizing.

Others are reading

Advertisement
Advertisement
Definitions of sterile

sterile (adj.)
free of or using methods to keep free of pathological microorganisms;
a sterile operating area
Synonyms: aseptic
sterile (adj.)
incapable of reproducing;
Synonyms: unfertile / infertile
sterile (adj.)
deficient in originality or creativity; lacking powers of invention;
a sterile ideology lacking in originality
Synonyms: unimaginative / uninspired / uninventive
From wordnet.princeton.edu

Dictionary entries near sterile

stereoscope

stereoscopic

stereotype

stereotypical

stereotyping

sterile

sterilise

sterility

sterilization

sterilize

sterling

© 2001-2022 Douglas Harper