Back to explorer

entry

stereotype

/ˈstɛriəˌtaɪp/

Fixed, oversimplified idea about a group

From Greek stereo- (solid) + Greek, through Latin and Middle English type (mark or impression).

noun
verb
stereo-
Ancient Greek
AI-inferred
στερεός (stereós)
“Solid, firm”; the source of the combining form.
Greek combining form
AI-inferred
στερεο- (stereo-)
“Solid”; later also “three-dimensional.”
French
AI-inferred
stéréo-
First element of stéréotype, meaning “solid.”
type
Ancient Greek
AI-inferred
τύπτω (túptō)
“To strike, beat”; the verb behind τύπος.
Ancient Greek
AI-inferred
τύπος (túpos)
“Blow, impression, mark,” then “figure” or “form.”
Latin
AI-inferred
typus
“Figure, image, form, kind.”
Middle English
AI-inferred
type
Borrowed through Latin; “symbol, figure, emblem.”
Combined
French stéréotype
French combined stéréo- (“solid”) and type; originally an adjective for printing from a solid plate of type.
French
Verified
stéréotype
“Printed by means of a solid plate of type.”

from French stéréotype (adj.) "printed by means of a solid plate of type,"

+1 more source
English
AI-inferred
stereotype
Recorded in 1798 for the printing method; later, the plate itself.
English
AI-inferred
stereotype
By 1819, used figuratively for something repeated without change.
English
AI-inferred
stereotype
By 1922, a preconceived, oversimplified notion about a person or group.
Modern English
stereotype
“

Picture a printer in 1798 arranging hundreds of tiny metal letters by hand, then making a single solid plate that could reproduce the whole page again and again. French called the method stéréotype: stereo- meant “solid,” while type carried the idea of a mark or impression. The word’s two halves have surprisingly physical origins: Greek stereós is linked to stiffness, while týpos began as a blow that left a dent or imprint. By the nineteenth century, a stereotype could mean any image or phrase reproduced without changing; in 1922, journalist Walter Lippmann used it for the simplified pictures people carry in their heads about social groups. The old printing plate is still hiding inside the modern word: a stereotype is an impression made so firmly that fresh evidence may struggle to erase it.

§