distraught

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English distraught, also distraght, destrauht and distraut,^[2][3] a modification of the earlier adjective distract (“perplexed, confused”), recorded from about 1340,^[4][5][6] the past participle of distracten.^[2][4] That adjective is borrowed from Latin distractus (“distracted, perplexed”),^[5][6][7] the past participle of distrahō (“to draw in different directions”), from dis- (“away”) and trahō (“to draw”).^[6] The OED explains the change of form as not a regular sound change but an association with English past participles ending in “-ght” such as caught, taught, bought, brought, sought, thought and wrought,^[5][6][4] and perhaps more directly with straught, an old past participle of stretch;^{[5][8][9][10][11]} since that also had the form streight, it may be that the word also stood for distrait.^[5] Weekley notes that distract, distrait and distraught were used interchangeably in Middle English.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Disturbed, upset or distressed: before 1393, in Gower's Confessio Amantis, of a king whose heart was so distraght at his land being turned upside down that he fell ill of grief.^[2][5][4]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word covered both distress and derangement: the MED records "deranged, insane" as well as "upset, distressed".^[2] The OED's first record of the sense "driven mad, crazy" is in Shakespeare's Richard III (1597).^[5] In the 16th and 17th centuries it was often distraught of or in one's wits or senses;^[5] Johnson (1755) quotes Camden on a man "distraught of his wits".^[13] Spenser also used it literally for "pulled apart, drawn in different directions" (1596).^[5] For a while distraught was used as a verb in place of distract (1579–93) and as a noun for distraction (1610).^[5] Once its form had moved away from distract, English made a new participial adjective, distracted, from the verb in the 16th century.^[6] Weekley called the word poetic,^[12] and Collins now labels the sense "mad" rare.^[10] In the 19th century it was still a dialect word in Scotland, Yorkshire, Warwickshire and Devon, also for "relaxed, unstrung".^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1340 – the earlier adjective distract, perplexed.^[4]
• before 1393 – deeply agitated or troubled.^[5][2][4]
• 1556 – distraught of one's wits (obsolete by 1657).^[5]
• 1579 – used as a verb for distract (obsolete by 1593).^[5]
• 1596 – literally, pulled apart, in Spenser (obsolete by 1642).^[5]
• 1597 – mad, deranged, in Shakespeare.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Deeply agitated or upset, as by grief, worry or conflicting emotions: The distraught parents waited for news of the missing boy.^[15][7][10]
2. (rare) Mad; insane.^[15][16][10]

Word family

• distraughtly
• undistraught

Related words

• distract
• distracted
• distrait
• tract
• attract

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
15. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
16. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster