celibacy

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin caelibātus (“the state of being unmarried”),^[2][3][4][5] with the suffix -acy,^[2][4][6] which Etymonline, Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Dictionary.com give as -cy.^[3][7][5] The Latin noun is from caelebs (“unmarried, single”), stem caelib-,^[2][4][5] and the OED notes that these are the only related words found in Latin.^[2] The further origin of caelebs is uncertain.^[3][8] Etymonline and Klein mention a compound of Proto-Indo-European *kaiwelo- (“alone”) and *lib(h)s- (“living”),^[3][8] and Etymonline reports de Vaan's alternative, *keh₂i-lo- (“whole”),^[3] which would relate it to health.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The state of being unmarried: Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives 1646 for this sense.^[7] The OED's first record is from 1663, in L. Womock's Aron-bimnucha,^[2] and Etymonline dates the word to the 1660s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word was first the opposite of marriage rather than of sexual activity, and it could be a reproach: through the 19th century, except as a religious vow, it was often frowned on as leading to indulgence and debauchery among bachelors, or as an excuse for them.^[3] Johnson (1755) simply defined it as "single life; unmarried state", quoting the Spectator on people who "look on celibacy as an accursed state".^[9] By the 1950s it could mean voluntary abstinence from sexuality without any reference to marriage,^[3] and the American Heritage Dictionary now puts that sense first.^[10] The noun celibate is older: it first meant the state itself, from 1614, and came from French célibat,^[2] while "a person bound not to marry" arrived only in the 19th century.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1646 – the state of not having a spouse.^[7] The OED's first record is from 1663,^[2] and Etymonline dates the word to the 1660s.^[3]
• 1950s – voluntary abstinence from sexuality, without reference to marriage.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Abstinence from sexual intercourse, especially because of a religious vow: He took a vow of celibacy on entering the monastery.^[10][7][6]
2. The state of being unmarried; single life.^[7][10][2]
3. The obligation of certain priests not to marry.^[7]

Word family

• celibatic

Related words

• celibate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
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. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt