tabloid

The story

1. Proto-Italic*taðlā
2. Latintabula
3. Old Frenchtable
4. Old Frenchtablete
5. Middle Englishtablet
6. Englishtablet
7. Proto-Indo-European*weyd-
8. Proto-Indo-European*wéydos
9. Proto-Hellenic*wéidos
10. Ancient Greekεἶδος (eîdos)
11. English todaytabloid

The noun is derived from tabl(et) + -oid (suffix meaning ‘having the likeness of, resembling’), originally coined by the United Kingdom firm Burroughs, Wellcome & Company as a brand name for their medicines and other products such as tea in tablet form and registered as a trademark on 14 March 1884. Noun sense 2 (“compact or compressed version of something; especially something having a popular or sensational nature”) is influenced by noun sense 2.2 (“newspaper characterized as favouring stories of a popular or sensational nature over serious news”). The adjective and verb are derived from the noun.

First known use, by meaning

• from late 19th c. A small, compressed portion of a chemical, drug, food substance, etc.; a pill, a tablet.
• from early 20th c. A newspaper having pages half the dimensions of a broadsheet, especially characterized as favouring stories of a popular or sensational nature over serious news.