Etymologically
Log in

corrupt

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 13:51. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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
  • 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