evolution

The story

1. Latin · borrowed fromēvolūtiō, ēvolūtiōnis“the act of unrolling, unfolding or opening (of a book)”
2. English todayevolution

Borrowed from Latin ēvolūtiō, ēvolūtiōnis (“the act of unrolling, unfolding or opening (of a book)”), from ēvolūtus, perfect passive participle of ēvolvō (“unroll, unfold”), from ex + volvō (“roll”). Compare typologically Czech vývoj, Serbo-Croatian развој, Russian разви́ть (razvítʹ), развива́ть (razvivátʹ), разви́ться (razvítʹsja), развива́ться (razvivátʹsja), Russian разви́тие (razvítije), related to Proto-Slavic *viti (whence Czech vít, Russian вить (vitʹ)).

First known use, by meaning

• from 17th c. A manoeuvre of troops or ships.
• from 17th c. A turning movement, especially of the body.
• 18th c. A turned or twisted shape; an involution, a complex or intricate shape.
• from 17th c. The act or process of unfolding or opening out; the progression of events in regular succession.
• from 17th c. The opening out of a curve; now more generally, the gradual transformation of a curve by a change of the conditions generating it.
• from 17th c. The extraction of a root from a given power.
• from 18th c. The act or an instance of giving off gas; emission.
• from 17th c. Development; the act or result of developing what was implicit in an idea, argument etc.