admiration

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English admiracioun, also admiracion,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Middle French admiracion, also admiration,^[5][3] or directly from Latin admīrātiō (“wonder, astonishment”).^[5][6][2][7] In Old French it is recorded from the late 12th century as ammiration, meaning astonishment or surprise.^[5] The Latin noun is formed from the past participle stem of admīror (“to regard with wonder, be astonished”),^[5][6][8] from ad- (“to”) and mīror (“to wonder”), from mīrus (“wonderful”), the source of miracle.^[6] ammirazione, admiración and admiração come from the same Latin word.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wonder, astonishment, surprise: the first record is about 1425, in the Book of Foundation of St Bartholomew's;^[5] Etymonline also dates it to the early 15th century with the sense "wonder".^[6][9]

Semantic evolution

Since the 16th century the sense has gradually weakened from "wonder" towards "high regard, esteem".^[6] The sense of regard for something praiseworthy is recorded from 1481, in Tiptoft's translation of Cicero's De Amicitia,^[5] and that of a person or thing that is admired, as in the admiration of the whole court, from 1490.^[5][7] Johnson (1755) still defined it first as "wonder; the act of admiring or wondering", quoting Milton's reasoning to admiration.^[10] The phrase to admiration, admirably, dates from 1591.^[5] Since 1587 the word has also named the exclamation mark, a note or mark of admiration, now historical.^[5][7] The old sense of wonder is now rare or archaic.^[5][3][11]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – wonder, astonishment.^[5]
• 1481 – regard for something praiseworthy, esteem.^[5]
• 1490 – a cause or object of wonder or esteem.^[5]
• 1533–1642 – admirableness (now obsolete).^[5]
• 1587 – an exclamation mark.^[5]
• 1591 – to admiration, admirably.^[5]
• 1755 – Johnson defines it first as wonder.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A feeling of warm approval, respect and pleasure towards someone or something: Her neighbours watched the restoration of the old mill with admiration.^[3][11][5]
2. A person or thing that is admired: The new bridge was the admiration of the whole town.^[11][7][3]
3. (archaic) wonder; astonishment.^[3][11][7]
4. (archaic) An exclamation mark, in note or mark of admiration.^[5][7]

Word family

• admiratively
• self-admiration

Related words

• admire
• admirable
• miracle

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins