disdain

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English disdeinen, also desdeinen and dedeinen,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French desdeignier (“to disdain, scorn, refuse”),^{[4][3][5][6][7]} recorded in Anglo-Norman as dedeigner and desdeigner from the early 12th century.^[8] The French verb, now dédaigner, is formed from des- (“do the opposite of”) and deignier (“to treat as worthy”), the source of deign.^[3][9][10] It represents Vulgar Latin *disdignō, an alteration of Latin dēdignor (“to reject as unworthy”),^{[5][10][7][11]} from dē- and dignor (“to deem worthy”),^[5][4][12] from dignus (“worthy”),^[5][3] from Proto-Indo-European *dek- (“to take, accept”).^[3][5] Its cognates include Italian sdegnare, Old Occitan desdenhar and Spanish desdeñar.^[7] The noun is inherited from Middle English dedeyn, later desdeyn,^[4][3][9] borrowed from Old French desdeign, Anglo-Norman dedeigne, from the verb.^{[4][6][13][3]} Barnhart thinks the English verb was probably borrowed from French, but also possibly converted from the earlier noun.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun, scorn or contempt for what one thinks unworthy: about 1290, in the South English Legendary,^[4] about 1300 in Etymonline's dating.^[3] The verb, to scorn, follows about 1380, in Sir Ferumbras and Chaucer's translation of Boethius.^[4][9]

Semantic evolution

Besides contempt, the noun meant indignation, anger at offended dignity, from 1297 to 1677;^[4] the verb similarly meant to be indignant at something (about 1382 to 1637),^[4] and to provoke indignation in someone (1530–1790), including the impersonal it disdains me in the York plays (about 1440).^[4] Johnson (1755) still defined the noun as "contempt; scorn; contemptuous anger; indignation".^[14] Spenser used it in 1590 for what causes loathing.^[4] In early Modern English the word was sometimes shortened to sdain.^[3] Only the sense of scorn survives, with the verb also used with an infinitive, to scorn to do something (from about 1380).^[4][15]

Timeline

• c. 1290 – noun, scorn, contempt.^[4]
• 1297 – noun, indignation, offended pride (obsolete by 1677).^[4]
• c. 1380 – verb, to scorn; to think it beneath one to do something.^[4][9]
• c. 1382 – verb, to be indignant (obsolete by 1637).^[4]
• 1530 – verb, to offend or anger (obsolete by 1790).^[4]
• 1590 – loathsomeness, in Spenser.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A feeling of contempt for someone or something thought unworthy or beneath one; scorn: She looked at the cheap wine with disdain.^[15][16][4]

Verb

1. To regard or treat with scorn: He disdained the new neighbours.^[15][16][4]
2. To refuse to do something because it seems beneath one: The champion disdained to answer the insult.^[15][4][6]

Word family

• disdainful
• undisdaining

Related words

• deign
• dignity
• indignant

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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 i 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster