Definition:
The process by which a word's meaning becomes less general or inclusive than its earlier meaning. Contrast with broadening. See also: Introduction to Etymology.
Examples and Observations:
- "Narrowing of meaning. This happens when a word with a general meaning is by degrees applied to something much more specific. The word litter, for example, meant originally (before 1300) 'a bed,' then gradually narrowed down to 'bedding,' then to 'animals on a bedding of straw,' and finally to things scattered about, odds and ends. . . . Other examples of specialization are deer, which originally had the general meaning 'animal,' girl, which meant originally 'a young person,' and meat, whose original meaning was 'food.'"
(Sol Steinmetz, Semantic Antics: How and Why Words Change Meanings, Random House, 2008) - "Engine was formerly used in a general sense of 'mechanical contrivance' (especially of war and torture), but since the Industrial Revolution it has come to mean 'mechanical sense of power.'"
(David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, Cambridge University Press, 2003) - "In Old English, mete referred to food in general (a sense which is retained in sweetmeat); today, it refers to only one kind of food (meat). Art originally had some very general meanings, mostly connected to 'skill'; today, it refers just to certain kinds of skill, chiefly in relation to aesthetic skill--'the arts.'"
(David Crystal, How Language Works, Overlook Press, 2006) - "Accident means an unintended injurious or disastrous event. Its original meaning was just any event, especially one that was unforeseen. . . . Fowl in Old English referred to any bird. Subsequently, the meaning of this word was narrowed to a bird raised for food, or a wild bird hunted for 'sport.'"
(Francis Katamba, English Words: Structure, History, Usage, Routledge, 2004)
Also Known As: narrowing, specialization
