cautious

Etymology

It was formed from English caution + -ous in English,^[2][3][4] with the stem of caution and the suffix in the form -ious, as if from a Latin *cautiōsus, which is not recorded.^[5] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English explain it as modelled on pairs such as ambition and ambitious.^[6][7] Caution itself goes back to Latin cautiō, from cautus (“careful, heedful”), the past participle of caveō (“to take care”);^[8][2] Etymonline notes that cautus was the Latin word for "cautious".^[2] Johnson (1755) derived the English word from cautus directly.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Marked by caution; wary, careful, circumspect, of persons and their conduct: a1640, in Philip Massinger's play The Guardian, where it may mean "fearful".^[5] Merriam-Webster gives 1614,^[3] and Etymonline dates the word to the 1640s.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed close to the modern one since the 17th century.^[5][10] The construction cautious to was once used where cautious not to is now usual, as careful to once meant "careful not to", and cautious of is obsolete;^[5][6] the OED's first example of these constructions is from Milton's Paradise Lost (1667).^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as wary, watchful.^[9] In Scots it had a kindlier sense: in Perthshire a cautious body was an unassuming, obliging person, and in Aberdeenshire be cautious meant "be quiet".^[11]

Timeline

• 1614 – Merriam-Webster's first date.^[3]
• a1640 – careful, wary, circumspect.^[5]
• 1667 – with of, how or to, careful about something or careful not to do it.^[5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Careful to avoid risk, danger or mistakes; wary and prudent: a cautious driver.
2. Showing caution or reserve; not rash or hasty: The minister gave a cautious welcome to the report.

Word family

• cautiously
• cautiousness
• incautious
• overcautious
• hypercautious
• supercautious
• uncautious
• ultracautious

Related words

• caution
• caveat
• precaution

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster contrasts cautious with circumspect, wary, chary and calculating: cautious can suggest no more than taking care to limit risk.^[3] Dictionary.com refers it to its synonym study at careful.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), 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. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ 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.
10. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
11. ^ 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)