Broadening and narrowing

of meaning
Prepared by Anna Kvasko
The verb to arrive began its life in English in the
narrow meaning “to come to shore, to land”. The
meaning developed through transference based on
contiguity, but the range of the second meaning is
much broader.of meaning occurs when a word with a
Broadening
specific or limited meaning is widened. The
broadening process is technically
called generalization

An example of generalization is the word business,

which originally meant 'the state of being busy,
careworn, or anxious,' and was broadened to
encompass all kinds of work or occupations
 The word «dogs»
Quite a number of words have undergone
semantic broadening in the history of English. The
modern English word dog, for example, derives
from the earlier form dogge, which was originally a
particularly powerful breed of dog that originated in
England.
 The word «pipe»

This meaning developed through transference

based on the similarity of shape which finally
led to a considerable broadening of the range
of meaning. Its earliest recorded meaning was
“musical wind instrument”. Nowadays it can
denote any hollow oblong cylindrical body,
like water pipes.
 The word «birds»
The word «birds» changed its meaning from “the
young of a bird” to its modern meaning through
transference based on contiguity (the association is
obvious).

The word «girl». In Middle English it had the

meaning of a small child of either sex.
 The word «litter»
Narrowing of meaning . . . 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
 Hound and Indigenous

The history of the word hound in English neatly illustrates this

process. The word was originally pronounced hund in English, and it
was the generic word for any kind of dog at all. This original meaning
is retained, for example, in German, where the word Hund simply
means 'dog.'

Words may come to be associated with particular contexts, which is

another type of narrowing. One example of this is the
 Meat and Art

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.
 Accident and Fowl

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.