consuetude

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English consuetude,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French consuetude and directly borrowed from Latin cōnsuētūdō (“a being accustomed, habit, usage”).^[4][2][5][6] The OED names only the Old French source, and the American Heritage Dictionary and Merriam-Webster Unabridged only the Latin.^[7][8][3] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1377, meaning custom.^[9] The Latin noun is formed on cōnsuētus, the past participle of cōnsuēscō (“to accustom”),^[4][6][10] from com-, here perhaps an intensive prefix, and suēscō (“to become used to”).^[4][11] Etymonline and Ayto connect the verb with the reflexive suus (“oneself”), from Proto-Indo-European *swe- (“oneself”).^[4][11] The inherited form of the Latin noun was Old French coustume, the source of custom.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A custom or habit: 1382, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible, where the king sits on his chair "after the consuetude" (1 Kings 20:25).^[7][2] Etymonline likewise dates the word to the late 14th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English it meant the traditional practice of a nation or group.^[2] Writers often paired it with the inherited word, as in Lydgate's "of custome & of consuetude" and Bokenham's "þe consuetude & þe custom", and a London chronicle of about 1450 notes that the mayor took his charge "as the consuetude is of the meyers of london".^[2] From 1496 it is recorded especially of custom recognized as having legal force, the unwritten law of custom.^[7] The OED and the Shorter Oxford describe the word as chiefly Scottish,^[7][6] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged quotes Walter Scott: "the stain hath become engrained by … consuetude".^[3] The sense "familiarity, social intercourse", from 1803, follows the Latin word, which could also mean intimacy.^[7][4][12]

Timeline

• 1382 – custom, usage, habit.^[7][2]
• 1496 – custom with legal force, in a printing of Dives and Pauper.^[7]
• 1803 – familiarity, social intercourse, in W. Taylor.^[7][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An established custom or usage, or social habit: By long consuetude the villagers met at the well each evening.^[3][13][7]
2. (law) Custom that has legal force; unwritten law: The family's grazing rights rested on consuetude alone.^{[3][13][7][6]}
3. Familiarity; social intercourse or acquaintance.^[7][6]

Word family

• consuetudinary
• consuetudinal

Related words

• custom
• costume
• desuetude
• mansuetude

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e 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 g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins