A Band of Musicians and a Band of Cloth Are the Same Word
A band is a strip of material, and also a group of people. Both come from the idea of binding.
A band is a flat strip used to bind or decorate, and also an organised group of people. Both senses come from binding: a strip binds objects together, and a band of people is bound by a common purpose. The musical sense grew from the group sense in the 1600s. *Band* also names a range of frequencies, as in *broadband* and *waveband*, from the idea of a strip on a spectrum. The root is the same as *bind* and *bond*.
- A strip. *A rubber band.*
- A group. *A band of musicians.*
- A frequency range. *A radio band.*
- Bind — the related verb. *Bind.*
- Old Norse and French — both routes. *The sources.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | band | A band. |
| Plural | bands | Bands. |
| Verb | band | Band together. |
| Related | bond | A bond. |
| Related | bind | Bind. |
- Put a band round the papers.Strip.
- The band played until midnight.Music.
- Broadband covers a wide range.Frequency.
The binding family
- Band — a strip that binds, or a bound group
- Bond — a binding agreement or force
- Bind — the verb itself
- Bundle — things bound together
- Bandage — a strip for binding a wound
From Old Norse *band* and Old French *bande*, both from a Germanic root meaning to bind.
Are the strip and the group the same word?
Yes. Both come from the idea of binding: a strip binds objects, a band of people is bound by common purpose.
Why is broadband called that?
From the sense of a band as a range of frequencies. Broadband uses a wide range and so carries more data.