Etymologically
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bad

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English badde, first found in surnames such as Baddecheese (1203),[2][3] of uncertain origin and without clear relatives in other languages.[3][4][2] It was originally two syllables,[5][6] and most dictionaries suggest that it is a shortening of Old English bǣddel (“hermaphrodite, effeminate man”) and its diminutive bǣdling (“effeminate man, sodomite”), with the loss of l as in much and wench from myċel and wenċel.[7][6][8][9] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster connect these with bǣdan (“to defile”),[3][10] and Barnhart compares Latin foedus (“foul, filthy”).[11] Weekley also considered Old English ġebǣded (“forced, oppressed”),[12] and Partridge preferred a Celtic source.[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Worthless, contemptible, of persons (13th century, first in surnames).[7][2]

Semantic evolution

If bad does come from bǣddel, that offensive sense may explain why it was rarely written before the 1400s;[2][14] the Century Dictionary, quoted by Etymonline, suggested that it lived on in vulgar speech as a general term of abuse before entering literary use.[3] It meant “inadequate, worthless” by about 1300 and “wicked, evil” by the late 14th century,[3] but evil remained the usual opposite of good until about 1700.[3][2] Merriam-Webster describes bad gradually replacing ill and evil in this role.[4] The comparatives badder and baddest were common from the 14th to the 18th century, as late as Defoe.[3][12] Bartlett (1848) recorded American I feel very bad for “ill”.[15] In American slang bad meant “good, tough” from 1897,[16] and in Black English vernacular by the mid-20th century it came to mean “excellent, powerful”, with its own forms badder and baddest,[4] and Merriam-Webster compares the similar reversals in wicked and terrific.[4] My bad, “my fault”, is recorded from 1999.[16]

Timeline

  • 1203 – Baddecheese, a surname.[2]
  • 1297 – of poor quality, worthless.[17]
  • late 14th century – wicked, evil; counterfeit.[3]
  • 1393 – bad coin, bad penny.[17]
  • 1575 – adverb, badly.[10][18]
  • 1613 – of a legal claim, invalid.[18]
  • 1771 – not bad.[17]
  • 1839 – feel bad, sorry or sad (American).[17]
  • 1897 – (slang) good, tough.[16]
  • 1999 – my bad.[16]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Of poor quality; inadequate: a bad concert.
  2. Not skilful: bad at maths.
  3. Unpleasant or unwelcome: bad news.
  4. Severe or serious: a bad cold.
  5. Harmful: smoking is bad for you.
  6. Morally wrong; wicked.
  7. Naughty: a bad dog.
  8. Rotten or spoiled: bad meat.
  9. Ill, injured or painful: a bad back.
  10. Sorry or guilty: I feel bad about it.
  11. Not valid: a bad cheque.
  12. (slang, originally North American) Very good.

Noun

  1. That which is bad: take the bad with the good.

Adverb

  1. (informal) Badly: needs it bad.

Word family

  • badness
  • worse
  • worst
  • evil
  • ill

Usage notes

Bad as an adverb (we need water bad) is common in informal speech but is widely regarded as unacceptable in formal writing.[19] The American Heritage Dictionary calls bad the broadest of the words for moral failing, evil a stronger word suggesting depravity, and wicked one implying deliberate wrongdoing.[19][20]

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 Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b 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. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  12. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  13. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  14. ^ Hendrickson, Robert (2008), The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 4th ed., New York: Facts on File
  15. ^ Bartlett, John Russell (1848), Dictionary of Americanisms, New York: Bartlett and Welford
  16. ^ a b c d Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
  17. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  18. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  19. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  20. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House