deference

Etymology

It is borrowed from French déférence,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} recorded in French from the 16th century,^[2][3] formed from déférer (“to yield, comply”) and -ence.^[2][7][4] The French verb, Old French deferer in the 14th century, is the source of defer²,^[3][4] and comes from Latin dēferō (“to carry away, transfer, grant”),^[3][8] from dē- (“down, away”) and ferō (“to carry”),^[3] from Proto-Indo-European *bher- (“to carry”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OED's first records are from about 1660: before 1660, in H. Hammond, for courteous regard to one who is owed respect, and in 1660, in a translation of Amyraut, for offering or yielding something, a rare sense now obsolete.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the 1640s,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1640–50.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline glosses the noun as a yielding in opinion and the French verb as "to yield, comply".^[3] In the OED, submission to another's superior claims or judgment is first recorded in 1702, in Clarendon's History of the Rebellion.^[2] Johnson (1755) lists "regard; respect", "complaisance; condescension" and "submission", quoting Dryden's out of deference to his friends and Addison's a deference to the judgment of those who, perhaps, in their own hearts, disapprove.^[10] The OED records the fixed phrase in deference to, out of respect for someone's authority or wishes, from 1863.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1660 – courteous regard for a superior or for one owed respect.^[2]
• 1660 – the offering or yielding of something (obsolete, rare).^[2] Etymonline dates the word itself to the 1640s.^[3]
• 1702 – submission to another's superior claims or judgment.^[2]
• 1863 – in deference to.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Yielding one's own judgment or preference out of respect for another: The junior doctors showed great deference to the surgeon.^[7][2][5]
2. Polite, respectful regard for another person's wishes, sometimes ingratiating.^[7][2][5]
3. in deference to: out of respect for the authority or wishes of someone.^[2][5]

Word family

• nondeference

Related words

• defer
• deferential
• confer
• refer
• transfer

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
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. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.