Etymologically
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deter

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /dɪˈtɜː/[1]
  • US: /dɪˈtɝ/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dēterreō (“to frighten from, discourage from”),[2][3][4][5][6] from dē- (“away, from”) and terreō (“to frighten”).[2][3][5][7] The OED notes a rare Old French deterrer, which does not seem to have influenced the English word.[2] Etymonline traces the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *tros- (“to make afraid”),[3] and Ayto to an Indo-European base meaning "shake", which also gave tremble and tremor.[8] The same Latin verb is the source of terror, terrible, terrific and terrify.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To discourage and turn aside, or restrain, by fear: 1578, in John Lyly's Euphues.[2][9] Merriam-Webster dates the verb to about 1547,[7] Barnhart to 1579[4] and Etymonline to the 1570s.[3]

Semantic evolution

From the first the verb covered both restraint by fear and restraint by any consideration of consequences;[2] Etymonline dates the wider sense, to stop someone from acting by any countervailing motive, to the 1590s,[3] and the construction with from, deterring someone from a place, purpose or action, is recorded from 1593, in Hooker.[2] A sense "to terrify, alarm" was used from 1595 to 1635.[2][9] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to discourage from any thing; to fright from any thing", and in 1773 as "to discourage by terrour".[10] The noun and adjective deterrent followed in 1829 and deterrence in 1861.[4] With a thing rather than a person as object, "to prevent or inhibit", as in deterring rust, is recorded from 1961, in Webster's Third.[2][7]

Timeline

  • c. 1547 – first known use, according to Merriam-Webster.[7]
  • 1578 – to discourage or restrain by fear, in Lyly's Euphues.[2]
  • 1593 – with from, to deter someone from an action.[2]
  • 1595–1635 – to terrify, alarm (obsolete).[2][9]
  • 1829 – deterrent.[4]
  • 1861 – deterrence.[4]
  • 1961 – to prevent or inhibit something.[2][9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To discourage someone from acting, or turn them aside, by fear, doubt or thought of the consequences: The high fence deterred the boys from climbing into the yard.[11][7][2][6]
  2. To prevent something from happening, or inhibit it: a coating to deter corrosion.[11][7][2]

Word family

  • determent
  • deterrable
  • deterrer
  • deterrability
  • undeterring
  • undeterred

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 n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  9. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins