disservice

Etymology

It is formed from English dis- + service.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The OED compares French desservice, recorded in the 16th century, and Italian diservizio, which Florio glossed as a bad service or an ill office;^[2] Etymonline and Klein suggest that the English word was formed on the model of the French one.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The opposite of service; an ill turn, harm, detriment: 1599, in Edwin Sandys's Europae Speculum.^[2][5][8] Etymonline dates it to the 1590s,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1590–1600.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its first meaning; from 1611, in Cotgrave's French–English dictionary, it was also used with a and in the plural for a single ill turn.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as injury, mischief or an ill turn, quoting Browne.^[9] A verb disservice, to do an ill turn to, is recorded from 1837.^[2] Collins notes that a disservice is often done while trying to help.^[10]

Timeline

• 1599 – harm, detriment; the rendering of an ill service.^[2][5]
• 1611 – an ill turn, a single harmful act.^[2]
• 1837 – verb, to do an ill turn to; to disserve.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An act that harms or hinders someone, often one done while meaning to help; an ill turn: You do your readers a disservice by leaving out the sources.^{[10][5][8][4]}
2. Harm or detriment; ill service.^[5][8][2]

Verb

1. To do an ill turn to someone; to disserve.^[2]

Word family

• disserviceable

Related words

• disserve
• service

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins