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deny

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /dɪˈnaɪ/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English denyen, borrowed from Old French denier, earlier deneier, denoier “to deny, repudiate, withhold”,[2][3][4][5] from Latin dēnegāre (“to deny, reject, refuse”),[2][3] from dē- “away” or “formally” and negāre (“to refuse, say no”),[2][6] from Old Latin nec “not”, from the PIE root Proto-Indo-European *ne- (“not”).[2] Compare negate and negative.[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To declare a statement untrue: about 1300 in the OED; before 1325 in Barnhart and the early 14th century in Etymonline.[8][3][2]

Semantic evolution

From the late 14th century it also meant to refuse to grant or give, and to refuse to acknowledge, disown;[2] the OED has disowning a person or thing from about 1340.[8] In logic, to assert the contradictory of a proposition, the opposite of affirm, is from about 1425.[8] To reject a doctrine as untrue is from 1630 and to refuse to admit the existence of something from 1621.[8] To refuse access to is from the 1660s.[2] Denial (1528) replaced the earlier denyance (1468).[3] In Scots and northern dialect, deny meant also to refuse an offer.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – to declare untrue.[8]
  • c. 1340 – to disown.[8]
  • late 14th century – to refuse to give.[2]
  • c. 1425 – in logic.[8]
  • 1528 – denial.[3]
  • 1660s – to refuse access to.[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To declare that something is not true.
  2. To refuse to believe or accept; to reject.
  3. To refuse to acknowledge someone or something; to disown.
  4. To refuse to give or allow something: denied entry.
  5. (deny oneself) To do without things one would like.

Word family

  • denyingly
  • deniable
  • redeny
  • undeniable
  • undenied
  • deniability
  • denier
  • self-denying

Usage notes

The AHD groups deny with contradict, contravene, disaffirm, gainsay, negate, negative and traverse, all meaning to refuse to admit that something exists or is true or valuable.[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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ 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)
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin