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anybody

Etymology and origin of the English word anybody

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
c. 1300

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈen.iˌbɒd.i/, US /ˈen.iˌbɑː.di/[1]

Etymology

It is a compound of any and body “person”,[2][3] at first written as two parts, ani bodi.[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Any person: about 1300 in Etymonline,[2] the 14th century in Merriam-Webster,[3] 1490 in the OED.[4]

Semantic evolution

The spelling as one word is attested by 1826.[2][3] In affirmative expressions it came to mean, depreciatively, an ordinary person, a person of no account, from 1826,[4] and in the opposite sense, as in everybody who is anybody, a person of some importance.[5][6] The colloquial phrase anybody's game or anybody's race, a contest whose result is uncertain, is from 1840.[2][4]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – any person.[2]
  • 1826 – written as one word.[2]
  • 1826 – an ordinary person.[4]
  • 1840 – anybody's game.[2][4]

Modern meaning

Pronoun

  1. Any person; anyone.

Noun

  1. A person of some importance: anybody who is anybody.
  2. An ordinary person, of no special importance.

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  6. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
Cite this entry

“Anybody.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/anybody. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

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