dissonant

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dissonaunt,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French dissonant, a French word of the 13th century,^[3][5] and directly borrowed from Latin dissonāns,^[3][2][6][7] the present participle of dissonō (“to disagree in sound, be discordant”),^[3][5][7] from dis- (“apart”) and sonō (“to sound”),^[3][4][8] from Proto-Indo-European *swen- (“to sound”).^[3][4] Dictionary.com brings in an Anglo-French stage and sees in the Latin verb a derivative of dissonus (“discordant”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Discordant, at variance: "If eny thynge be founde dissonaunte to feithe", in a Middle English Higden dated to about 1425, in a manuscript from before 1475.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the early 15th century and Dictionary.com to 1400–50,^[3][9] while the OED's first record is Caxton's Eneydos of 1490.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant disagreement of any kind, and its figurative sense is the older one in English;^[5][3][6] the Oxford Dictionary of English gives "clashing" as its Middle English meaning.^[8] The literal sense of harsh sound is recorded only from 1573, in Harvey's Schollers Loove.^[5][3] Johnson (1755) gave both, and his 1773 revision added that dissonant to was "less properly" said than dissonant from.^[10] Modern Oxford dictionaries put music first, for chords lacking harmony, and then things that clash in combination, such as colours.^[8][11]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – discordant, at variance, of ideas or things.^[2][3] The OED's first record is from 1490.^[5]
• 1573 – harsh or jarring in sound.^[5][3]
• 1579 – noun, a dissonant element or a harsh speech sound.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Harsh or discordant in sound: the dissonant clang of the old bells.^[12][7][5]
2. (music) Lacking harmony; marked by dissonance: the score's dissonant passages.^[12][8][6]
3. Not in agreement; incongruous or at variance: a few dissonant voices on the committee.^[12][7][5]
4. Clashing or unsuitable in combination, as colours can be.^[8][11]

Noun

1. A dissonant element; a harsh speech sound.^[5][6]

Word family

• dissonantly
• dissonancy
• undissonant

Related words

• dissonance
• sound
• consonant
• resonant
• sonata

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d 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 d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins