Etymologically
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awesome

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈɔː.səm/, US /ˈɑː.səm/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English awe + -some.[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Full of awe, profoundly reverential”: 1598,[5][6] the 1590s;[2] the SOED finds it first in Scotland.[3]

Semantic evolution

The meaning “inspiring awe or dread” is from the 1670s, 1671 in the OED,[2][5] and in Scots and northern English dialects awesome meant “awful, appalling, terrifying”, as in Scott's novels.[7] The weakened colloquial sense, “overwhelming, remarkable”, originally American, is recorded by 1961,[2][5] and the trivial use as a word of praise, “marvellous, great”, from 1980, in vogue since about then.[5][2]

Timeline

  • 1598 – full of awe.[5][6]
  • 1671 – inspiring awe.[5]
  • 1961 – remarkable (colloquial).[2][5]
  • 1980 – excellent, great.[5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Inspiring awe; impressive, or frightening.
  2. (informal) Extremely good; excellent.
  3. (archaic) Full of awe; expressing awe.

Word family

  • awesomely
  • awesomeness

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)