Etymologically
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avoidance

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Pronunciation

  • /əˈvɔɪdəns/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English avoidaunce,[2][3] formed from English avoid + -ance.[4][5][6][7][3] The OED thinks that, to judge from its date, the noun probably also existed in Anglo-Norman,[4] and the MED and Dictionary.com take it from Anglo-French;[2][8] the Anglo-Norman Dictionary records avoidance from the first quarter of the 14th century, meaning an annulment and the vacancy of a benefice.[9] The verb avoid is from Anglo-Norman avoider (“to clear out, withdraw”), which corresponds to Old French esvuidier (“to empty out”), formed from es- (“out”) and vuidier (“to be empty”), from vuide (“empty”), the source of void.[4][5][7] Etymonline traces the French adjective to Latin vocivus (“unoccupied, vacant”), a derivative of vacō (“to be empty”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of emptying a vessel or its contents; removal, ejection, excretion: before 1398, in John Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus.[4] The MED quotes the same text for the emptying of the bowels or stomach,[2] and Etymonline gives the sense "action of emptying" from the late 14th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

The early senses follow the old meanings of avoid, "to empty, clear out, withdraw".[4][5] From 1462 the noun was used of an office or benefice falling vacant, and of the right to fill the vacancy;[4][6] the MED has this sense from 1430,[2] and Etymonline from the mid-15th century.[5] Other senses that died out in the 17th century were withdrawal or departure (1563–1635), dismissal (1633–50) and an outlet (1602–12).[4][6] The legal sense of making something void, an annulment, is recorded from 1628, in Coke,[4][5] though it was already present in Anglo-Norman.[9] The modern sense, the shunning of something unwelcome or holding aloof from someone, is dated 1610, in Donne, by the OED,[4] but from the early 15th century by Etymonline;[5] it follows the change of avoid itself to "shun".[5] Johnson (1755) gave "the act of avoiding" first and "the course by which any thing is carried off" second.[10] In anthropology avoidance has meant, since 1889, the custom by which some members of a family may not meet or speak to each other.[4] Tax avoidance, the legal reduction of tax, is a later compound.[6][3]

Timeline

  • before 1398 – the emptying of a vessel; removal, excretion (obsolete by 1661).[4]
  • 1430 – a vacancy in an office or benefice.[2]
  • 1462 – the same sense in the OED, in the Paston Letters.[4]
  • 1563 – withdrawal, departure (obsolete by 1635).[4]
  • 1602 – an outlet (obsolete by 1612).[4]
  • 1610 – the shunning of something unwelcome.[4]
  • 1628 – annulment, especially in law.[4][5]
  • 1889 – the avoidance custom in anthropology.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act of keeping away from something or someone, or of preventing something from happening: the avoidance of debt.[11][3][12][4]
  2. (law) The act of making something void; annulment.[11][3][12][4]
  3. (ecclesiastical law) The state of a benefice or office having no holder; a vacancy.[11][3][4]
  4. An anticipatory response made in order to avoid something.[3]
  5. (obsolete) The act of emptying or clearing something away.[3][4]
  6. (obsolete, 1602–1612) An outlet.[3][4]

Word family

  • nonavoidance
  • zone of avoidance

References

  1. ^ 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 e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  9. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  10. ^ 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 Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt