corrupt

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kəˈɹʌpt/^[1]

Etymology

The adjective is borrowed from Old French corrupt and directly from Latin corruptus,^[2][3][4] past participle of corrumpere (“to break into pieces, destroy, spoil, bribe”),^[2][3] from cor-, an intensive form of com- before r, and rumpere (“to break”) (see rupture),^[2][3][5] from PIE *runp-, to break.^[3] The verb is probably from the adjective, later felt as a borrowing of Latin corruptus.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corrupted, debased in character: 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt;^[2] about 1325 in the OED.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Decomposing or putrid, and of language debased by alteration, are from the late 14th century,^[3][7] as is guilty of dishonesty involving bribery.^[3] The verb, to deprave morally, is from the mid-14th century in Etymonline and about 1385, in Chaucer, in Barnhart;^[3][2] to influence by a bribe is late 14th century.^[3] Corrupt practices at elections is from 1563.^[7] Of computer data, damaged by errors, is a recent sense.^[8]

Timeline

• 1340 – the adjective.^[2]
• c. 1385 – the verb, to pervert.^[2]
• late 14th century – putrid; debased; venal.^[3]
• 1563 – corrupt practices.^[7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Dishonest; open to bribery.
2. Morally depraved.
3. Containing errors or changes, as a text.
4. (archaic) Rotten or putrid.

Verb

1. To destroy the honesty or integrity of, as by bribery.
2. To ruin morally.
3. To make impure or rotten.
4. To change a text or data so that it contains errors.

Word family

• corrupter
• corruptive
• corruptly
• corruptness
• corruptibility
• corruptible
• corruptibly

Related words

• corruption
• incorruptible
• rupture
• disrupt
• erupt
• interrupt

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ 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 Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins