tolerance

The story

1. Latin · derived fromtolerō“to endure”
2. Latin · derived fromtolerantia“endurance”
3. Old French · derived fromtolerance
4. Middle English · inherited fromtoleraunce
5. English todaytolerance

Inherited from Middle English toleraunce, borrowed from Old French tolerance, from Latin tolerantia (“endurance”), from tolerāns, present participle of, and participial adjective from Latin tolerō (“to endure”).

First known use, by meaning

• 15th–19th c. The ability to endure pain or hardship; endurance.
• from 18th c. The ability or practice of tolerating; an acceptance of or patience with the beliefs, opinions or practices of others; a lack of bigotry.
• from 19th c. The ability of the body (or other organism) to resist the action of a poison, to cope with a dangerous drug or to survive infection by an organism.
• from 19th c. Resistance to drunkenness.
• from 20th c. The variation or deviation from a standard, especially the maximum permitted variation in an engineering measurement.
• from 20th c. The ability of the body to accept a tissue graft without rejection.
• from 1912 To design or engineer a material to a specified tolerance.