Etymologically
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derogatory

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /dɪˈɹɒɡətɹi/[1]
  • US: /dɪˈɹɑɡəˌtɔɹi/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin dērogātōrius,[2][3][4][5][6] from Latin dērogātus, the past participle of dērogō (“to take away, detract from; to repeal in part”);[2][5][7] the OED derives the adjective from the agent noun dērogātor.[8] Barnhart allows a route through Middle French dérogatoire, recorded in French from 1341,[7][8] or a formation of derogate with -ory, perhaps under French influence.[7] The Latin verb is formed from dē- (“away”) and rogō (“to ask; to propose a law”),[2][7][9] which Etymonline connects with Proto-Indo-European *reg- (“to move in a straight line”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Detracting from authority, rights or standing; impairing something in force or effect: 1502–3, in the Plumpton Correspondence.[8][7] Etymonline dates it to about 1500.[2]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense of taking something away from rights or authority came first;[8][10] from 1570, in Foxe's Actes and Monumentes, the word was also used of what lowers someone in honour or esteem,[8] a use Etymonline dates to the 1560s.[2] Johnson (1755) still defined it as "that lessens the value of", quoting Browne.[11] As a noun, a derogatory was a clause in a will or deed that removed the right to alter or cancel it later, recorded from 1528 to 1626.[8] The disparaging sense is now the main one.[12][13]

Timeline

  • 1502 – detracting from authority or rights; impairing in force.[8][7]
  • 1528 – noun, a clause in a will or deed barring later changes (obsolete by 1626).[8]
  • 1570 – disparaging, lowering in esteem.[8] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1560s.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Showing a low opinion; disparaging or insulting: He made derogatory jokes about his rivals.[12][3][13]
  2. Tending to detract from authority, rights or effect.[8][4]

Word family

  • derogatorily
  • derogatoriness
  • nonderogatory
  • derogate
  • derogation

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press