deviant

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English deviaunt,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Late Latin dēviāns (“turning out of the way”), the present participle of dēviō (“to turn aside”),^{[5][4][3][6][7]} which was formed from the phrase Latin dē (“off, from”) via (“way, road”).^[4][3] The OED records the Latin verb in Augustine and the Vulgate,^[5] and the Middle English Dictionary takes the word from Medieval Latin.^[2] The American Heritage Dictionary traces via to Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to go, transport”).^[3] Deviate, from the past participle of the same Latin verb, appears in the 1630s.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Deviating, different: about 1400, in the Middle English Romaunt of the Rose, where the speaker says that he is "devyaunt" from the god of Love's school.^[2][5][8]

Semantic evolution

The adjective was rare before the 20th century.^[9] Besides "deviating", it was once used, in 1471 in G. Ripley's Compound of Alchemy, for "that turns something aside", a sense now obsolete.^[5][10] The Middle English Dictionary also has the word as a noun, one who goes astray, in the same work,^[2] which Etymonline dates to the 1540s.^[4] The modern uses come from 20th-century medicine and social science: a noun for something that deviates from the normal is recorded from 1927, in the Journal of the American Medical Association,^[5][4] and for a person who departs from social norms from 1928, in M. Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa.^[5] The Historical Thesaurus dates the adjective's sense "not conforming to accepted standards of behaviour" from 1935,^[10] and Etymonline the sexual sense of the noun, a person whose sexuality departs from what is held to be normal, from 1952, after the noun deviate in the same sense from 1912.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – deviating, different.^[2][5]
• 1471 – that turns something aside (obsolete, rare).^[5][10]
• before 1550 – noun, one who goes astray.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1540s.^[4]
• 1927 – noun, something that deviates from the normal.^[5][4]
• 1928 – noun, a person who departs from accepted social standards.^[5]
• 1935 – not conforming to accepted standards of behaviour.^[10]
• 1952 – noun, a person whose sexual behaviour departs from what is held to be normal.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Departing from what is considered normal or acceptable, especially in social or sexual behaviour: The report described a pattern of deviant conduct.^[11][7][9]
2. Differing from a standard or norm; divergent.^[7][5]

Noun

1. A person whose behaviour, especially sexual behaviour, departs markedly from what is considered acceptable.^[11][7][9]
2. Something that deviates from a norm.^[7][5]

Word family

• deviance
• nondeviant

Related words

• deviate
• deviation
• devious
• via

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ 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)
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins