discordant

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English discordaunt,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman descordaunt, also discordaunt,^[4] and Old French descordant,^{[4][3][5][6][7]} the present participle of descorder, from which discord the verb also comes,^[4][6] and partly directly borrowed from Latin discordāns (“differing, quarrelling”),^[2][3][8] the present participle of discordō (“to be at variance, differ, quarrel”),^[3][8][9] from discors (“disagreeing”), from dis- (“apart”) and cor (“heart”).^[3][4] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1235–55, with the senses "at variance" and "quarrelsome".^[10] Compare Catalan discordant, Spanish discordante, Portuguese discordante and Italian discordante.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In disagreement or conflict with something: before 1393, in Gower's Confessio Amantis: It is gretly descordant Unto.^[2][4] Etymonline also dates the word to the late 14th century,^[3] and Dictionary.com, much earlier, to 1250–1300.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The sound sense, "jarring, dissonant", appears soon after the general one.^[4][3][2] The OED notes that dictionaries of French do not date a musical sense, and that in the Romaunt of the Rose the French original has lés et descors, a kind of song, which may have prompted the English translator's word.^[4] The word was applied to quarrelsome people from 1474;^[4] from the 16th century it was used in figurative contexts, especially discordant note.^[4] Chaucer used the word three times and Gower twice.^[11] Johnson (1755) gave "inconsistent", "opposite" and "incongruous", all of the general sense.^[12] Later technical uses came in geology, where the coastline sense follows German diskordant (1896), and in genetics.^[4]

Timeline

• before 1393 – in disagreement, conflicting.^[4][2]
• before 1425 – of music or sound, jarring, harsh.^[4] Etymonline dates this sense to about 1400.^[3]
• 1474 – of people, quarrelsome.^[4]
• 1532 – noun, in the plural, discordant things (from a text of about 1385).^[4]
• 1571 – figurative, as in discordant note.^[4]
• 1869 – in geology, cutting across the prevailing direction of adjacent or underlying rock or land.^[4]
• 1912 – of a coastline, running across the direction of the land features.^[4]
• 1932 – in genetics, of a matched pair such as twins, not sharing a trait or disease.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not in agreement; conflicting: The two witnesses gave discordant accounts.^[13][14][9]
2. Harsh or unpleasant to hear; dissonant: a discordant clang of bells.^[13][14][4]
3. Of people, quarrelling; at odds with each other.^[4][6]
4. (geology) Cutting across the direction of adjacent or underlying strata or land features.^[4][6]
5. (genetics) Of a matched pair such as twins, not having the same trait or disease.^[4]

Noun

1. Discordant things, qualities or statements, in the plural (obsolete).^[4][6][2]

Word family

• discordancy
• discordantly
• nondiscordant
• undiscordant

Related words

• discord
• discordance
• accord
• concord

References

1. ^ a b 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 e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
14. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins