courageous

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English corageous, also curageous and corajous,^[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman corageous, Old French corageus, also corajus,^[3][4][5] later French courageux.^[3][4] The French adjective was formed from corage (“heart, innermost feelings; temper”), the source of courage, and the suffix -eus, the source of -ous.^[3][6][7][4] The Anglo-Norman adjective is recorded from the late 12th century, meaning courageous or inclined to something.^[8] Old French corage goes back to Vulgar Latin *corāticum, from cor (“heart”),^[4][3] from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerd- (“heart”).^[4] The OED compares Italian coraggioso.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Desirous or eager to do something: about 1290, in the South English Legendary.^[3][2] The sense brave, valiant, follows in 1297, in Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the Old French word meant eager, spirited and brave, but also capricious or inconstant, both senses resting on the idea of following one's inner impulses, the corage or heart.^[4] Middle English kept the sense "eager, desirous" until about 1400, and also used the word for lustful;^[3][2] from about 1386, in Chaucer's Parson's Tale, it could mean full of vigour, lusty, a sense recorded until 1577.^[3][5] Chaucer used corageous three times, for brave and for vigorous or ardent.^[9] Only the sense "brave" survived; from 1795 the word was also applied to actions and speech that show courage.^[4] Johnson (1755) glossed it "brave; daring; bold; enterprising; adventurous; hardy; stout".^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1290 – eager, desirous (obsolete by 1400).^[3]
• 1297 – brave, valiant.^[3]
• c. 1386 – vigorous, lusty, in Chaucer (obsolete by 1577).^[3]
• 1755 – Johnson defines it as brave, daring, bold.^[10]
• 1795 – of actions or speech, showing courage.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having or showing courage; brave and not deterred by danger or difficulty: a courageous decision to testify against her employer.^{[6][11][12][3]}
2. (obsolete, 1290–1400) Eager or desirous to do something.^[3][5][2]
3. (obsolete, 1386–1577) Full of vigour; lusty.^[3][5]

Word family

• courageously
• courageousness
• uncourageous

Related words

• courage
• encourage

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
10. ^ 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.
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt