absurdity

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English absurdite,^[2][3][4] first borrowed from Late Latin absurditās (“dissonance”)^[5][3][6] and later also borrowed from Middle French absurdité.^[5][4][7] The Late Latin noun, recorded in the sense "dissonance" from the 4th century and "perversity" from the 5th, is formed from absurdus (“out of tune; absurd”) and the suffix -tās.^[5][3] Absurdus is formed from ab- and surdus (“deaf, dull”).^[5][3] The French noun is recorded from 1371–5 for an absurd act or statement.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lack of harmony; dissonance, in music: about 1429, in the Mirour of Mans Saluacioune, where the harp of David and the music of Jubal would be "absurditee" beside a heavenly harmony.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The word came in with the literal musical sense of its Latin source, which died out in the 17th century.^[5][8] The figurative sense, something absurd, an unreasonable act or practice or a statement against reason, appears in the Coventry Leet Book (before 1525),^[5][2] and the abstract sense, the quality of being unreasonable or ridiculous, in Thomas More (1529).^[5] Johnson (1755) gave the abstract sense first and noted that only the concrete sense, "that which is absurd", takes a plural.^[9] Merriam-Webster also records a logical sense, a contradiction.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1429 – lack of harmony, dissonance (obsolete by 1655).^[5]
• before 1525 – an absurd thing; an unreasonable action or practice.^[5][2]
• 1529 – the quality of being absurd, in Thomas More.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality or state of being absurd; ridiculous or wholly unreasonable folly: The absurdity of the plan became clear at the first meeting.^[10][5][8]
2. Something absurd; an absurd act, statement or custom.^[10][5]
3. In logic, a contradiction.^[10]
4. (obsolete, c. 1429–1655) Dissonance; lack of harmony.^[5][8][2]

Related words

• absurd
• surd

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster