Etymologically
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avenge

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Pronunciation

  • /əˈvɛnd͡ʒ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English avengen,[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman avenger,[5][6] from Old French avengier,[7][5][6][8][9] formed from a- (“to”), from Latin ad-, and vengier (“to take revenge”), now French venger, from vindicō (“to claim as one's own, avenge, punish”),[7][5][9][10] the source of vindicate.[11][12] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from the mid-13th century, meaning to avenge, to take vengeance on, and to avenge oneself.[13] The Shorter Oxford takes the prefix as an intensifier,[8] and Merriam-Webster takes the English verb as probably formed with a- on vengen (“to avenge”).[3][2] In the 15th and 16th centuries the prefix was often written ad-, after supposed Latin models.[7] Weekley compares manger from mandūcō.[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

To be avenged, chiefly in a reflexive sense: about 1375, in Wyclif; to take vengeance on behalf of someone, 1377, in Langland's Piers Plowman.[7] Barnhart dates the verb probably before 1387, in a version of Piers Plowman,[6] and the MED's first quotation, reflexive, is from about 1380, in Sir Ferumbras.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

From the start the object could be either the injured person or the wrong itself: both are in Langland in 1377.[7] The intransitive use, to take vengeance, appears in Coverdale's Bible (1535), and a sense "to take vengeance upon (the offender)" was used from 1633 to 1666 and is obsolete.[7] A noun avenge, vengeance, is recorded from 1568.[7] Johnson (1755) defined the verb simply as "to revenge", quoting the Bible.[15] The two verbs were once interchangeable, but avenge came to be used of just retribution and revenge of retaliation out of spite;[16][5] the OED notes that the distinction has never been strictly kept, though it largely holds.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1375 – passive, to be avenged.[7]
  • 1377 – to take vengeance for a person or a wrong.[7] Barnhart dates the verb before 1387.[6]
  • c. 1380 – reflexive, to avenge oneself.[7][2]
  • 1535 – intransitive, to take vengeance.[7]
  • 1568 – noun, vengeance.[7]
  • 1633 – to take vengeance on an offender (obsolete after 1666).[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To punish someone in return for a wrong done to oneself or another; take vengeance on behalf of: She vowed to avenge her murdered brother.[17][3][7]
  2. To exact retribution for a wrong or injury: The team avenged last year's defeat.[17][3][7]

Word family

  • avenger
  • avengingly
  • avengeful
  • unavenged
  • unavenging

Usage notes

Random House distinguishes avenge, inflicting punishment as retributive justice, from revenge, retaliating for a real or imagined wrong, often with a reflexive pronoun.[16] Etymonline quotes the Columbia Guide to Standard American English (1993): revenge stresses retaliation more strongly and implies hatred as its motive.[5]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  12. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  13. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  16. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  17. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins