Etymologically
Log in

deaden

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the English word deaden

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1596 a translation of Saint Vincent of Lérins by A. P. More words from the 16th century
Ultimate origin
Old English dead,-en
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English dead
English deaden
From the same root
English deadline ← dead
English undead ← dead

Pronunciation

Etymology

It is formed from English dead + -en.[2][3][4][5][6] The older verb was simply dead, recorded from 1382, which deaden largely replaced in its extended senses.[2][6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make a person, or the feelings or senses, less sensitive to something: about 1596, in A. P.'s translation of Saint Vincent of Lérins.[2][7] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates its first sense to 1613, Etymonline the word to the 1660s and the Shorter Oxford to the mid 17th century.[4][3][6]

Semantic evolution

From the figurative sense of dulling feeling the verb spread in the 17th century to weakening the effect of something (1609), making drink flat (1657), muffling a sound (1659), slowing a movement (1661) and numbing a part of the body (1673).[2] Johnson (1755) gave "to deprive of any kind of force or sensation" and quoted Bacon's deaded for a muffled sound beside Glanvill's deadened for checked motion.[8] From 1699 it was used of dulling colour or lustre, and in America from 1705 of killing trees by stripping a ring of bark.[2][6] The intransitive sense, to lose vitality or force, dates from 1686,[2] and the sense of soundproofing a floor or wall from 1867.[2][6]

Timeline

  • c. 1596 – to make a person or the feelings less sensitive.[2]
  • 1609 – to weaken the effect of something.[2][7]
  • 1657 – to make a drink flat.[2]
  • 1659 – to muffle a sound.[2]
  • 1661 – to slow a movement.[2]
  • 1673 – to numb a part of the body.[2]
  • 1686 – intransitive, to lose vitality or force.[2]
  • 1699 – to dull colour or lustre.[2]
  • 1705 – chiefly American, to kill a tree by removing a ring of bark.[2]
  • 1867 – to make a floor or wall resistant to sound.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To make less sensitive, strong or lively; to dull or numb: The injection deadened the pain in his jaw.[9][4][2]
  2. To make a sound less loud or clear; to muffle.[9][4][2]
  3. To make a wall, floor or room resistant to sound: They deadened the studio with thick panels.[9][4][2]
  4. To slow or check a movement.[4][2]
  5. To take away the shine or brightness of something.[4][2]
  6. To make a drink flat or tasteless.[4][2]
  7. Chiefly in the United States, to kill trees by girdling them.[2][6]
  8. To lose vitality, force or brightness.[9][2][6]

Word family

  • deadener
  • deadeningly
  • undeadened

References

  1. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Deaden.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/deaden. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·