blandishment

Etymology

It is formed from English blandish + -ment,^[2][3][4][5] probably after Middle French blandissement (“flattery”),^[2] which is recorded in Anglo-Norman from 1163–70.^[6][2] The OED notes that the first quotation may come directly from the French word.^[2] The verb is from Old French blandir (“to flatter, caress”), through its stem blandiss-,^[2][3][7][8] from Latin blandior (“to flatter, coax, soothe”),^[2][3][7] from blandus (“flattering, smooth-talking”),^[2][3][7] which Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary perhaps connect with Proto-Indo-European *mel- (“soft”).^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A statement or act that uses charm or flattery to entice or cajole: the OED and Merriam-Webster Unabridged date it to about 1553, in a translation of Pope Pius II's history of Lady Lucres and Eurialus.^[2][4] Etymonline and Dictionary.com give the 1590s.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The word came later than the verb, recorded from about 1300, and than an older noun blandish, used from about 1390 to 1805 for the same flattery.^[2] It soon spread from the act of coaxing to the thing that tempts, from 1594,^[2][3] and it is often used in the plural.^[4][8] Johnson (1755) separated three uses: an act of fondness, quoting Spenser and Milton; soft words, from Bacon; and kind treatment or a caress, from Dryden.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1553 – flattering or coaxing speech or action.^[2][4]
• 1594 – something that tempts or attracts; an enticement.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Speech or action meant to flatter and coax; cajolery; often plural: She resisted all the salesman's blandishments.^[4][2][8]
2. Something that tempts or attracts; an enticement or allurement.^[2][4]

Related words

• bland
• blandish
• blandiment

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.