Etymologically
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cautious

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:34. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈkɔːʃəs/[1]
  • US: /ˈkɔʃəs/, /ˈkɑʃəs/[1]

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to was once used where cautious not to is now usual, as careful to once meant "careful not to", and cautious of is obsolete;[5][6] the OED's first example of these constructions is from Milton's Paradise Lost (1667).[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as wary, watchful.[9] In Scots it had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

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)