discomfort

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English discomforten,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman descunforter, also descomforter and Old French desconforter (“to discourage, dismay; to sadden”),^[5][2][6][3] and the noun is discomfort, also disconfort,^[7][8] from Anglo-Norman descomfort and Old French desconfort (“distress, grief, discouragement”), a noun formed from that verb.^[5][2][9][6] The French verb is formed from des- and conforter (“to comfort, solace; to help, strengthen”),^{[2][5][9][10]} from Late Latin confortō (“to strengthen much”), a word of the Vulgate.^[2] The OED adds that the later noun sense, uneasiness, may have been partly formed anew in English from dis- and comfort.^[5] Modern French has déconforter and déconfort.^[2][5][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a verb, to deprive of courage, to dishearten: about 1325, in the Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester (about 1300 in Etymonline).^[5][2] The noun, distress, grief or sorrow, follows about 1350, in a Psalter.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

In Old French the precise sense of the noun is often hard to pin down, and both words covered discouragement, grief and distress.^[5][6] Middle English followed: the noun meant misfortune or adversity, grief and discouragement,^[2][7] and Chaucer used it for distress, misfortune and discouragement.^[8][5] By confusion with discomfit the verb also meant to defeat in battle from 1384 to 1647, and the noun once (1589) a rout.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as "uneasiness; sorrow; melancholy; gloom".^[11] The modern sense, something that makes a person uncomfortable, appears in Johnson's Rambler (1750), and the state of being uncomfortable from 1779 (by 1841 in Etymonline);^[5][2] the old senses of grief and sorrow died out in the 19th century.^[5][12] The verb in the sense "to make uncomfortable or uneasy" is recorded from 1806 (by 1856 in Etymonline).^[5][2]

Timeline

• c. 1325 – verb, to dishearten, discourage (obsolete by 1856).^[5]
• c. 1350 – noun, distress, grief, sorrow (now obsolete).^[5][2]
• c. 1384 – verb, to defeat, thwart (obsolete).^[5]
• before 1398 – verb, to sadden, grieve.^[5]
• c. 1405 – noun, discouragement; a cause of distress, in Chaucer.^[5]
• 1750 – something that makes a person uncomfortable; a hardship.^[5]
• 1779 – the state of being uncomfortable; slight pain.^[5]
• 1806 – verb, to make uncomfortable or uneasy.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A feeling of physical or mental uneasiness, or mild pain: The new boots caused him some discomfort.^[13][3][5]
2. Something that causes such a feeling; an inconvenience or hardship.^[13][5]
3. (archaic) Distress, grief or sorrow.^[3][5]

Verb

1. To make someone uncomfortable or uneasy.^[13][3][5]
2. (archaic) To discourage or dishearten.^[3][5][14]

Word family

• discomfortable
• discomfortingly

Related words

• comfort
• discomfit
• uncomfortable

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b 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)
8. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press