caprice

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kəˈpɹiːs/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French caprice (“whim”),^[2][3][4][5] from Italian capriccio (“whim; shudder”),^[2][3][4][5] a word of uncertain origin.^[4] It is perhaps from Italian capo (“head”) + riccio (“curly; hedgehog”),^[2][5][3][4] from Latin caput (“head”) and Latin ericius (“hedgehog”),^[2][5][3] the idea being of hair standing on end in fear.^[4] A 19th-century guess linked it instead with capro “goat”, from goats' frisking.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sudden turn of the mind without apparent motive.^[4][6] The Italian word first meant a shiver or a sudden fright.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

From a single whim the word came to mean a disposition to such whims,^[6] and was transferred to unpredictable changes in things, such as the weather.^[6][5][7] It is also used of a lively, free-form musical piece, a capriccio.^[2][5][6]

Timeline

• 1594 – capricious.^[3]
• 1667 – first recorded;^[6][5][3] Etymonline gives the 1660s.^[4]
• 1709 – the disposition to sudden whims.^[6]
• 1721 – a work of irregular, playful fancy.^[6]
• 1748 – of things rather than people.^[6]
• 1880 – in music, a capriccio.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A sudden, impulsive and apparently unmotivated change of mind or action.
2. A tendency to change one's mind impulsively.
3. A sudden, unpredictable change or series of changes, as in the weather.
4. (music) A capriccio.

Related words

• capricious
• capriccio
• whim

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster groups caprice with whim, vagary and crotchet, all meaning an irrational or unpredictable idea or desire;^[5] caprice stresses the lack of any evident motive and suggests wilfulness.^[5]

References

1. [1] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. [1] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House