Etymologically
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brutality

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 03:31. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /bruːˈtæləti/, /bruːˈtælɪti/[1]
  • US: /bruːˈtælət̬i/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English brutal + -ity;[2][3][4][5] the OED and the Shorter Oxford compare French brutalité,[2][4] which Johnson gave as its source.[6] The adjective is formed from Latin brūtus (“heavy, dull, stupid, insensible”), the source of brute, with the suffix -al;[2][3] Etymonline takes it through Old French brutal.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Brutish ignorance, a want of intelligence like that of the animals: 1550, in a sermon of Hugh Latimer, a sense found only in the mid-16th century.[2][4] Etymonline gives the 1540s for "the quality of resembling a brute",[3] and Merriam-Webster dates the general sense to 1550.[7]

Semantic evolution

The word first described people as like the beasts in their lack of reason (1550), later also in their sensuality (1603).[2] The main modern sense, inhuman behaviour or savage cruelty, followed in 1633,[2][3] part of a wider pattern in English of describing violent action in terms of animals since the early 17th century.[8] Johnson (1755) defined it as savageness, churlishness or inhumanity.[6] Coarse incivility, violent roughness of manners, is recorded from 1709, in Steele's Tatler,[2] and the literal sense "the condition of the brutes", living like an animal, from 1711, in Addison's Spectator.[2][3] A brutality, a single brutal act, is recorded from the late 19th century.[4]

Timeline

  • 1550 – want of intelligence, brutish ignorance (obsolete).[2][4]
  • 1603 – sensuality, likeness to the brutes.[2]
  • 1633 – inhumanity, savage cruelty; an inhuman action.[2][3]
  • 1709 – coarse incivility, violent roughness of manners.[2]
  • 1711 – the state or condition of the brutes.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The quality of being brutal; savage cruelty or ruthlessness: the brutality of the regime.[7][9][4]
  2. A brutal act or course of action: The report lists the brutalities suffered by the prisoners.[7][9][4]
  3. (obsolete, 1550s) Brutish ignorance; want of intelligence.[2][4]

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 h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Mapping Metaphor with the Historical Thesaurus, University of Glasgow, mappingmetaphor.arts.gla.ac.uk
  9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin