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START / NODE 118Present-Day English14th century–today
muscle
A body tissue or organ whose English name descends through French from Latin musculus, a diminutive of mūs “mouse.”
“A muscle was a “little mouse.” The Latin name compares the moving form beneath the skin to a mouse, although the exact visual mechanism is not securely fixed.”OPEN COMPLETE WORD DOSSIER ↗
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01
PARENT ROUTES1 REVIEWED RELATIONSHIP
Present-Day Englishmuscle
contractile body tissue; later strength or coercive power
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Middle English · Middle Englishmusclea muscle or muscular organ
- SOUND CHANGE
- Middle English muscle continued into modern English with regular orthographic and phonological development.
- SEMANTIC CHANGE
- The anatomical meaning remained central and later extended to strength and coercive power.
- SCHOLAR
- Merriam-Webster · American Heritage editors
- CONFIDENCE
- established
- CHRONOLOGY
- Merriam-Webster reports English muscle from the 14th century.
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