soon

adj
/suːn/UK/sun/US

Etymology

From Middle English sone, from Old English sōna (“immediately, at once”), from Proto-West Germanic *sān(ō), from Proto-Germanic *sēna, *sēnô (“immediately, soon, then”), from *sa (demonstrative pronoun), from Proto-Indo-European *só (demonstrative pronoun). Cognate with Scots sone, sune, schone (“soon, quickly, at once”), North Frisian san (“immediately, at once”), dialectal Dutch zaan (“soon, before long”), Middle Low German sân (“right afterwards, soon”), Middle High German sān, son (“soon, then”), Old High German sār (“immediately, soon”). Compare also Gothic 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐍃 (suns, “immediately, soon”), from Proto-Germanic *suniz (“soon”).

  1. inherited from *suniz — “soon
  2. derived from *só
  3. inherited from *sēna
  4. inherited from *sān(ō)
  5. inherited from sōna — “immediately, at once
  6. inherited from sone

Definitions

  1. Short in length of time from the present.

    • I need the soonest date you have available.
  2. Early.

    • Late in the evening we arrived at Quincy where we bivouacked for the night and taken a soon start the next morning to march to the arsenal.
    • Got up pretty early, ate a soon breakfast, had the sulky and was about to start to Newtown when it commenced raining..
    • They were different from colored folks who had to be out to get a soon start.
  3. Used as an alternative to express 'to be going to' in the form 'to be soon to'.

    • Hurry up, the wedding is soon to start!
    • A new shop is soon to be opened in this street.
  4. + 4 more definitions
    1. Immediately, instantly.

    2. Within a short time

      Within a short time; quickly.

      • His wife is likely to come too after him, but we just do not know how soon after.
      • Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly,[…], down the nave to the western door.[…]At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.
    3. Readily

      Readily; willingly; used with would, or some other word expressing will.

      • I would as soon see a river winding through woods or in meadows, as when it is tossed up in so many whimsical figures at Versailles.
    4. A surname.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at soon. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01soon02length03horse04equipment05expedition06speed07rapid08quickly

A definitional loop anchored at soon. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

8 hops · closes at soon

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA