darken

Etymology

It is formed from English dark + -en,^[2][3][4] which the OED regards as the probable analysis, comparing the earlier verb dark.^[2] The Middle English forms are derknen, darknen and dirken;^[5][6] the Middle English Dictionary derives them from derken rather than directly from the adjective,^[5] and the OED warns that in some inflected forms darken and dark are hard to tell apart.^[2] It also compares, with some doubt, Old High German terkanen (“to conceal, hide, pretend”).^[2] The adjective goes back to Old English deorc,^[7][4] Proto-Germanic *derkaz.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To grow dark: before 1300, in the Thrush and Nightingale, according to the OED's revised entry,^[2] a line the Middle English Dictionary reads, doubtfully, as "to be misty".^[5] Etymonline instead has the transitive sense, to deprive of light, about 1300, and the intransitive in the early 14th century.^[4] The OED's first record of the transitive use with light is much later, about 1521.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The more usual Middle English verb for both senses was simply dark, as in Chaucer and Shakespeare, and darken only prevailed in the 17th century,^[4][3] though Chaucer has derkne once.^[8] Old English also had sweorcan (“to grow dark”).^[4] Figurative uses appeared early: spoiling or casting a shadow over something (Wycliffite Bible, before 1382),^[2] and clouding the sight, from around 1425,^[2] or the mind (Rheims Bible, 1582).^[2] Johnson (1755) gave "to cloud; to perplex" and "to foul; to sully" beside the literal sense.^[9] Becoming gloomy or sombre is dated 1745 in the OED,^[2] and 1742 for the transitive "to sadden" in Etymonline.^[4] The sense of colour dates from 1550 for the transitive and 1731 for the intransitive in the OED,^[2] though Etymonline finds it in the late 14th century.^[4] The phrase darken someone's door, mostly with a negative and implying an unwelcome caller, is dated 1729.^[4][10] In Scots and northern English dialect the verb is used with in for dusk falling, and the darkening means twilight.^[11]

Timeline

• before 1300 – to grow dark.^[2][5]
• before 1382 – to spoil, tarnish or cast a shadow over, in the Wycliffite Bible.^[2]
• before 1425 – to deprive of sight, to blind (obsolete by 1913).^[2]
• c. 1475 – to lie hidden, to lurk (obsolete by 1513).^[2][5]
• c. 1521 – to make dark, to deprive of light.^[2] Etymonline dates it to about 1300.^[4]
• 1550 – to make darker in colour.^[2]
• 1580 – of the sight, to be lost or clouded.^[2]
• 1582 – to deprive the mind of understanding, in the Rheims Bible.^[2]
• 1609 – to deprive of glory or reputation (obsolete by 1784).^[2]
• 1729 – darken someone's door.^[4]
• 1731 – to become darker in colour.^[2]
• 1745 – to become gloomy or sombre.^[2] Etymonline dates the transitive "to sadden" to 1742.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To become dark or darker, especially as light fails: The valley darkened as the sun dropped behind the ridge.^[10][6][2]
2. To make something dark or darker: She darkened the room with heavy curtains.^[10][2][3]
3. To make or become darker in colour: Rain had darkened the old stone wall.^[2][3]
4. To make or become gloomy, angry or sad: His mood darkened when the letter came.^[10][6][2]
5. To tarnish or cast a shadow over something: The scandal darkened the end of his career.^[2][3]
6. To make or become obscure or hard to understand.^[3][2]
7. Of the sight, to dim or fail.^[2][3]
8. darken someone's door: to visit someone, usually in a negative phrase implying the visitor is unwelcome.^[10][3][4]
9. (obsolete, 1425–1913) To blind someone or impair the sight.^[2][3]

Word family

• darkener

Related words

• dark

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ 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)
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ 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)