avenger

Etymology

It is formed from English avenge + -er.^[2][3][4][5] Avenge is from Anglo-Norman avenger, avengier,^[3][6] from a- (“to”) and vengier (“to take revenge”),^[3][6][7] from Latin vindicō (“to claim, avenge, punish”).^[3][7][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who takes vengeance on or punishes an offender: 1388, in Wyclif's version of Psalm 8.^[2] The later Wycliffite Bible (about 1395) has "That thou destrie the enemy and avengere" in the same verse.^[4] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense looked at the offender: the avenger was the one who punished.^[2] The sense now current, one who avenges an injured person or an injury, is recorded from Coverdale's Bible of 1535.^[2] Johnson (1755) still gave both: "punisher", with 1 Thessalonians, "the Lord is the avenger of all such", and "revenger; taker of vengeance for".^[5] The first sense died out after 1667.^[2] Spenser (1596) used the feminine avengeress.^[3]

Timeline

• 1388 – one who takes vengeance on or punishes an offender (obsolete after 1667).^[2]
• 1535 – one who avenges an injured person or an injury, in Coverdale's Bible.^[2]
• 1596 – the feminine avengeress, in Spenser.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who avenges a wrong or someone who has been wronged; one who takes vengeance: She became the avenger of her murdered brother.^[8][2][4]
2. (obsolete, 1388–1667) One who punishes an offender.^[2][5]

Related words

• avenge
• revenge
• vengeance
• revenger
• vindicate

Usage notes

Dictionary.com notes that avenge and revenge were once used interchangeably, but that avenge now implies punishment as retributive justice, while revenge implies retaliation for a real or imagined wrong.^[9]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c 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)
5. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
6. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House