Semantic Change: Broadening and Narrowing

See how a word's range of meaning can widen or shrink over centuries.

Words do not keep the same meaning forever. Two common patterns are broadening and narrowing. In broadening, a word's meaning becomes more general. 'Holiday' began as 'holy day,' a religious festival; now it means any day off or a vacation. In narrowing, a word's meaning becomes more specific. Old English 'mete' meant food in general, as in the old phrase 'meat and drink'; today 'meat' means animal flesh. Old English 'deor' meant any wild animal; 'deer' now names one family of animals.

Worked example: in an older text you read, 'The travelers had neither meat nor drink for two days. ' If you apply the modern meaning, you might think they ate only vegetables. Knowing about narrowing, you realize they had no food at all. When older writing seems slightly off, consider that a familiar word may have had a wider or narrower sense then.

• 1Broadening makes a meaning more general (holiday).
• 2Narrowing makes a meaning more specific (meat, deer).
• 3Older texts may use familiar words in earlier senses.