Etymology Map
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Calorie

3 stages from Latin to English.

Today it means a unit of energy, especially of the energy value of food

Where does the word "calorie" come from? It comes from Latin calor, passing through French before entering English (1863).

1
Stage 1 of 3
calor
Latin · classical
"heat"
'heat', the root also of 'caloric', the invisible heat-fluid that 18th-century chemists believed in
2
Stage 2 of 3
calorie
French · 1824
"unit of heat"
the physicist Nicolas Clément defined it in his Paris lectures on heat engines, published in 1824
3
Stage 3 of 3
calorie
English · 1863
"unit of food energy"
entered English in 1863 through a translation of Ganot's French physics textbook; the American chemist Wilbur Atwater later measured the energy in foods in calories
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Read the full story

Calorie’s story begins in Latin: calor meant “heat.” 'heat', the root also of 'caloric', the invisible heat-fluid that 18th-century chemists believed in. By 1824, the word had taken hold in French as calorie. The physicist Nicolas Clément defined it in his Paris lectures on heat engines, published in 1824. It reached English by 1863 as calorie. Entered English in 1863 through a translation of Ganot's French physics textbook; the American chemist Wilbur Atwater later measured the energy in foods in calories. Today, calorie means a unit of energy, especially of the energy value of food.