desperado

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dɛspəˈɹɑːdəʊ/ (UK)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably a mock-Spanish alteration of the obsolete noun desperate “a desperate person, a reckless criminal”,^[2][3][4][5] from the adjective desperate.^[2][4] Old Spanish had an adjective desperado “out of hope”,^[2][3] but Etymonline says it was apparently never used as a noun and probably has nothing to do with the English word.^[3] The AHD instead derives the word from Spanish desperado, desesperado “a desperate person”, from desesperar “to despair”.^[6] The root is Latin desperare (“to despair”).^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person in despair or in a desperate condition (1610).^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is obsolete.^[7] From 1647 the word meant a desperate or reckless man, ready for any lawless or violent deed;^[7][2][4] it is now used especially of the bandits and outlaws of the American West.^[6][4][5]

Timeline

• 1563 – the obsolete noun desperate, a desperate person.^[2]
• 1610 – a person in despair.^[7][2]
• 1647 – a reckless criminal.^[7][2][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A bold, reckless or violent criminal or outlaw, especially of the American frontier.
2. A person in desperate circumstances.

Related words

• despair
• desperate
• bravado

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press