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Origin and history of profile

profile(n.)

1650s, "a drawing of the outline of anything," especially "a representation of the human face in side view," from older Italian profilo "a drawing in outline," from profilare "to draw in outline," from pro "forth" (from PIE root *per- (1) "forward") + filare "draw out, spin," from Late Latin filare "to spin, draw out a line," from filum "thread" (from PIE root *gwhi- "thread, tendon"). Meaning "a side view" is from 1660s. Meaning "biographical sketch, character study" is from 1734.

profile(v.)

1715, "to represent in profile, draw with a side view," from profile (n.) or Italian profilare. Meaning "to summarize a person in writing" is from 1948. Related: Profiled; profiling.

also from 1715

Entries linking to profile

profiling(n.)

by 1852 as a term in field engineering, verbal noun from profile (v.). By 1888 as "the drawing of profiles." The racial/ethnic stereotyping sense is attested from c. 1991, American English, probably on the notion of "fitting (someone) to a profile."

low-profile(adj.)

1957, in reference to automobile wheels, from low (adj.) + profile (n.). General sense is by 1970 in American English, apparently first in reference to Nixon Administration policy of partial U.S. disengagement from burdensome commitments abroad.

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Trends of profile

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

silhouette
"portrait in black showing the profile," 1798, from French silhouette, in reference to Étienne de Silhouette (1709-1767),...Kitchin, 1882] The word was used of any sort of dark outline or shadow in profile from 1843; as "contour of a garment" by...
limousine
The automobile meaning is from a perceived similarity of the car's profile to a type of hood worn by the inhabitants of that...
Indian
Indian-head (adj.) in reference to U.S. copper pennies with a portrait of an Indian in profile, from 1862....
butterfly
As a low-profile assistant professor in MIT's department of meteorology in 1961, [Edward] Lorenz created an early computer...
horizon
late 14c., orisoun, from Old French orizon (14c., Modern French horizon), earlier orizonte (13c.), from Latin horizontem (nominative horizon), from Greek horizon (kyklos) "bounding (circle)," from horizein "bound, limit, divide, separate," from horos "boundary, landmark, marking
indite
formerly also endite, late 14c., "put down in writing," from Old French enditer, enditier "dictate, write; draw up, draft; (legally) indict," from Vulgar Latin *indictare, from Latin in- "in, into, on, upon" (from PIE root *en "in") + dictare "to declare," frequentative of dicere
write
Old English writan "to score, outline, draw the figure of," later "to set down in writing" (class I strong verb; past tense wrat, past participle writen), from Proto-Germanic *writan "tear, scratch" (source also of Old Frisian writa "to write," Old Saxon writan "to tear, scratch,
biography
1680s, "the histories of individual lives, as a branch of literature," probably from Medieval Latin biographia, from later Greek biographia "description of life" (which was not in classical Greek, bios alone being the word there for it), from Greek bios "life" (from PIE root *gwe
pen
late 13c., penne, "writing implement made from the hard, hollow stem at the base of a feather," from Old French pene "quill pen; feather" (12c.) and directly from Latin penna "a feather, plume," in plural "a wing," in Late Latin, "a pen for writing," from Old Latin petna, pesna,
interpret
late 14c., "expound the meaning of, render clear or explicit," from Old French interpreter "explain; translate" (13c.) and directly from Latin interpretari "explain, expound, understand," from interpres "agent, translator," from inter "between" (see inter-) + second element proba

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