Etymologically
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blur

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈblɜː/[1]
  • US: /blɝ/[1]

Etymology

The noun and the verb both appear in the mid-16th century; their relation to each other is doubtful and the origin of both is unknown.[2][3][4] They are often taken as a variant of blear,[2][5][6] or as related to it,[7][8][9][10] the American Heritage Dictionary calling the link with bleren (“to blear”) probable;[7] Klein sees a gradational relation between blur and blear.[11] The OED suggests the word may also be imitative, combining the effect of blear and blot; the modern form in Scotland is Scots blore.[2] Etymonline thinks the verb probably came from the noun, though their dates are close.[12] Skeat compared dialectal Swedish blura (“to blink, half close the eyes”),[13] and Johnson, following Skinner, derived it from Spanish borra (“a blot”).[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

A moral stain, a blemish on one's character: 1548, in Nicholas Udall's translation of Erasmus's Paraphrase of the New Testament.[2][5][12] Merriam-Webster gives 1519 as the first known use of the noun and 1520 for the verb.[8]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense, a smear that partly hides writing, made with ink or by brushing wet writing, is recorded from 1601,[2] about 1600 in Etymonline, later than the figurative "moral stain".[12][2] The verb started with the phrase blur out, to blot out by smearing (1581);[2][5] it then meant to smear writing with ink (1592) and, figuratively, to sully or defile, as in Shakespeare's Hamlet (1604): "Such an act That blurs the grace and blush of modesty".[2][9] The sense "to make indistinct" appears in Shakespeare's Cymbeline (before 1616; 1611 in Barnhart),[2][5] and was extended to dimming the sight, the senses or the judgement (before 1653).[2] Johnson (1755) still defined the noun as "a blot; a stain; a spot" and the verb as "to blot; to efface; to obscure".[14] The modern noun sense, a confused dimness or indistinct appearance, is not recorded until 1860, when Emerson used it of the Orion nebula;[2][12] the intransitive verb, to become blurred, dates from 1856, in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh.[2][12] In dialect a blur was a blunder or a spoilt piece of work in East Yorkshire and Derbyshire, and a deception in south Cheshire, and North Yorkshire had blur-sheet for blotting paper.[15] In Singapore English it is an adjective meaning slow to understand or confused (from 1977).[2]

Timeline

  • 1548 – a moral stain or blemish.[2][5]
  • 1581 – verb, blur out, to efface by smearing.[2][5]
  • 1592 – to smear writing with ink.[2]
  • 1601 – a smear that partly obscures writing.[2]
  • 1604 – to sully or blemish, in Shakespeare's Hamlet.[2]
  • before 1616 – to make indistinct, in Shakespeare's Cymbeline.[2][5]
  • before 1653 – to dim the sight or the judgement.[2]
  • 1856 – intransitive, to become blurred.[2][12]
  • 1860 – an indistinct appearance, a confused dimness.[2][12]
  • 1977 – Singapore English adjective, slow to understand.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Something that looks or seems vague, hazy or indistinct, without a clear outline: The cyclists passed in a blur of colour.[6][8][2]
  2. A smear or smudge that partly hides something, as one made with ink on paper.[6][8][2]
  3. A moral stain; a blemish on someone's character.[8][2][9]

Verb

  1. To make or become indistinct or less clear: Rain blurred the view from the bus window.[6][8][2]
  2. To make the memory, the judgement or the sight less clear; to dim.[6][2]
  3. To smear or smudge, as with ink.[6][8][2]
  4. To sully or stain a reputation.[8][2]

Word family

  • blurriness
  • blurry
  • blurringly
  • blurredness
  • blear
  • blot

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 o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  13. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  14. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  15. ^ 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)