crime

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kraɪm/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cryme,^[2] borrowed from Old French crime, crimne “crime, mortal sin”,^[3][2] from Latin crīmen (“charge, accusation; fault, offense”) (genitive crīminis),^[3][2][4] probably from cernere (“to decide, sift”),^[3][2][5] from Proto-Indo-European *krei- (“to sieve”), hence “to discriminate”;^[3] de Vaan accepts this derivation.^[3] Klein, after Brugmann, rejects it and suggests *cri-men, originally “a cry of distress”,^[3] and Merriam-Webster compares Old High German scrīan “to cry out”.^[4] Latin cernere is also the source of discern, concern and recriminate.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Sinfulness, an infraction of the laws of God: about 1250,^[2] the mid-13th century in Etymonline.^[3] The early meanings were “wickedness” and “sin”.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense, an offence punishable by law, is from the late 14th century,^[3] first in the Wycliffe Bible in 1382.^[8][2] An accusation or charge is from about 1386, now obsolete.^[8] Any great wickedness is from the 1510s.^[3] Old English glossed the Latin word with facen, which also meant “deceit, treachery”.^[3] The verb, “to charge with an offence”, is from 1570, now chiefly military.^[8][9] Crime wave is American English by 1893.^[3] Crime doesn't pay dates from the mid-19th century and became a slogan of the American radio series The Shadow in the 1930s.^[6] Criminal is from about 1400.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – sinfulness.^[2]
• 1382 – an offence punishable by law.^[8][2]
• c. 1400 – criminal.^[2]
• 1510s – any great wickedness.^[3]
• 1570 – verb, to charge with an offence.^[8]
• 1893 – crime wave.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An act, or a failure to act, that breaks a law and is liable to punishment.
2. Unlawful activity in general.
3. A serious offence against morality; a sin.
4. Something foolish or shameful: it's a crime to waste food.

Verb

1. (chiefly military) To charge with an offence.

Word family

• crimeless
• crimelessness
• criminal
• anticrime
• crimogenic
• criminology
• decriminalize
• noncriminal

Related words

• discriminate
• discern
• concern
• recriminate
• certain
• incriminate

Usage notes

In Somerset and Devon dialect the crime of the country meant the common talk, general gossip.^[10]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)