diligent

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English diligent, also deligent,^[2] borrowed from Old French diligent and directly borrowed from Latin dīligēns (“attentive, assiduous, careful”),^[3][2][4][5] the present participle of dīligō (“to value highly, esteem, love”).^[3][6][7][8] The Latin verb is formed from dis- (“apart”) and legō (“to choose, gather”),^[3][7][9][8] and Etymonline traces the second part to Proto-Indo-European *leg- (“to collect, gather”).^[3] The OED dates the French adjective to the 13th–14th century,^[6] and the Anglo-Norman word is recorded from about 1270 for hard-working, attentive and insistent.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of people, assiduous and hard-working: 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwit.^[6][2] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Ayto explains that the Latin verb first meant literally "single out", and that its meaning passed through "love" to "attentiveness", "carefulness" and finally "steady effort".^[8] In Middle English the adjective could also mean eager, heedful or dutiful,^[2] and Chaucer used it nine times.^[11] The sense "attentive, heedful, careful" lasted from about 1400 to 1757, and "attentive to others in service" from 1566 to 1689.^[6] From about 1430 it was said of actions as well as people.^[6] An adverb diligent (1479–1590) and a verb, to work at something diligently (1545), did not last.^[6] The Middle English Dictionary also records a dilygente of messyngers as the term for a group of messengers, before 1450.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined the word as "constant in application; persevering in endeavour; assiduous".^[12]

Timeline

• 1340 – of people, assiduous, industrious.^[6][2]
• c. 1400 – attentive, heedful, careful (obsolete by 1757).^[6]
• c. 1430 – of actions, steadily applied.^[6]
• before 1450 – noun, a group of messengers.^[2]
• 1479 – adverb, diligently (obsolete by 1590).^[6]
• 1545 – verb, to work at diligently (obsolete).^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a person, showing steady, careful effort in work or duties; industrious: She was a diligent student who never missed a lecture.^[13][7][6]
2. Of work, done with care and perseverance: After a diligent search they found the missing file.^[13][6][5]
3. (archaic) Heedful, careful, attentive.^[7][6][5]

Word family

• diligently
• diligentness
• overdiligent
• undiligent

Related words

• diligence
• elect
• neglect
• select
• predilection
• legend

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins