decorous

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin decōrus (“becoming, seemly, fitting”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} with the English ending -ous.^[4][6][7] The OED notes that in form it matches Late Latin decorōsus (“elegant, beautiful”), the source of Italian decoroso, but that its sense corresponds to the classical adjective.^[8] That adjective is derived from decor (“seemliness, beauty”), itself from decēre (“to become, befit”), according to the OED, the American Heritage Dictionary and Merriam-Webster Unabridged,^[8][2][5] while Etymonline and Klein derive it instead from decus (“ornament, dignity”).^[3][4] The root is Proto-Indo-European *dek- (“to take, accept”).^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Seemly, suitable, appropriate: 1653 in Merriam-Webster Unabridged,^[5] the 1660s in Etymonline,^[3] and 1664 in the OED, in Henry More's Modest Enquiry into Mystery of Iniquity.^[8] Klein credits More with introducing the word into English.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word first described what was seemly or suitable, a sense not recorded after 1691.^[8][7] Johnson (1755) could still define it as "decent; suitable to a character; becoming; proper; befitting; seemly", and quoted Ray applying it to what was fitting for God.^[9] The surviving sense, marked by decorum and conformity to good taste in behaviour, is dated to the 1670s by Etymonline, the late 17th century by the Shorter Oxford, and 1792 in the OED's entry, which has not been fully revised.^[3][7][8] In 1876 Lowell applied it to language, as propriety of diction.^[8] Bailey's dictionary of 1727 also recorded it in the sense of the late Latin adjective, beautiful.^[8]

Timeline

• 1664 – seemly, appropriate (obsolete by 1691), in Henry More.^[8] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives 1653 as the first date.^[5]
• 1670s – marked by decorum, formally polite and proper.^[3] The Shorter Oxford dates this sense to the late 17th century,^[7] and the OED's first record of it is from 1792.^[8]
• 1727 – elegant, beautiful, explained from the late Latin adjective, in Bailey.^[8]
• 1876 – of language, showing propriety of diction.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Showing propriety and good taste in conduct or appearance; dignified, polite: The guests kept up a decorous silence through the speeches.^[10][5][8]
2. Of language, proper in diction.^[8]
3. (obsolete, 1664–91) Seemly, suitable, appropriate.^[8][7]

Word family

• decorously
• decorousness
• indecorous
• undecorous

Related words

• decor
• decorum
• decent
• decorate

Usage notes

The stress has varied: the OED records that Johnson, Walker and Smart gave the second syllable a long stressed vowel, in keeping with the Latin, that Bailey and Perry stressed the first syllable, and that Craig (1847) and later dictionaries record both.^[8] The OED also notes that the word is not very frequent colloquially.^[8]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
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. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins