Etymologically
Log in

dirt

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 05:39. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /dɜːt/, /dɝt/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English dird, dyrt, by metathesis of earlier drit, drytt, mud, dung,[2][3][4] borrowed from Old Norse drit (“excrement”),[2][3][5][6] related to drita (“to defecate”) and Old English drītan,[2][4] from Proto-Germanic *drītaną.[2][3] Word Origins compares the change from brid to bird.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Excrement, and unclean matter: before 1300 in the OED, as drit;[7] the form dyrt is from 1434 in Barnhart, of something worthless.[2]

Semantic evolution

Mud or loose earth is from about 1300 as drit;[3] the OED dates soil, earth, from 1698.[7] It has been used abusively of persons from about 1300,[3][7] and figuratively of anything worthless, like filthy lucre, from 1357.[7] Scandalous gossip is first attested in 1926, in Hemingway.[3][7] Pay dirt, earth containing gold, is California miners' slang by 1857,[3] the American dirt road is by 1835,[3] dirt-cheap is by 1766 and dirt-poor by 1906.[3] Dirty is from before 1398 as dritty,[2] and its sense obscene from the 16th century.[6]

Timeline

  • before 1300 – excrement; filth.[7]
  • 1357 – something worthless.[7]
  • 1434 – the form dyrt.[2]
  • 1698 – soil, earth.[7]
  • 1766 – dirt-cheap.[3]
  • 1926 – gossip.[3][7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Dust, mud or another substance that makes things dirty; filth.
  2. Loose earth or soil.
  3. Scandalous or damaging information; gossip.
  4. Something worthless or contemptible.

Word family

  • dirtbag
  • dirty
  • dirt-cheap
  • dirt-poor
  • dirt bike
  • dirt road
  • pay dirt
  • dirt farmer

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press