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drama

Etymology and origin of the English word drama

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1515
Borrowed from
Latin drama
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (δρᾶμα)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈdrɑː.mə/, US /ˈdrɑː.mə/, /ˈdræm.ə/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin drāma (“play, drama”),[2][3] at first through French drame,[4][3] from Ancient Greek δρᾶμα (drâma, “action, deed; play, spectacle”) (genitive drámatos),[2][3] from δράω (dráō, “to do, act, perform”),[2][3] which is of uncertain etymology;[2] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster compare Lithuanian daryti “to do, make”.[3][5] It is related to dramatic and drastic.[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A composition presenting a course of human action in dialogue, to be acted: 1515 in the OED, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster, spelled drame;[7][3][5] the spelling drama is in Ben Jonson's Epigrams (1616).[3]

Semantic evolution

“Theatrical literature generally, drama as an art” is from the 1660s,[2][7] and a series of events leading to a climax, like a play, by 1714.[2][7] Dramatic quality, colourfulness or excitement, is from 1930.[7] Dramatic is from 1589,[3] dramatis personae, the characters of a play, from 1730,[3][6] the drama-documentary from 1970[7] and drama queen by 1992.[2] Johnson defined drama as “a poem accommodated to action”.[8]

Timeline

  • 1515 – a play.[7][3]
  • 1589 – dramatic.[3]
  • 1660s – drama as an art.[2]
  • 1714 – a series of events like a play.[2]
  • 1930 – excitement, colourfulness.[7]
  • 1992 – drama queen.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A composition in prose or verse, especially a serious one, written to be performed by actors; a play.
  2. A serious work for television, radio or the cinema.
  3. Plays as a branch of literature or art; the theatre.
  4. A situation or series of events with the conflict and emotion of a play.
  5. Dramatic quality; excitement.

Word family

  • biodrama
  • docudrama
  • dramedy
  • melodrama
  • minidrama
  • monodrama
  • photodrama
  • psychodrama
  • dramatic
  • dramatics
  • dramatist
  • dramatization
  • dramatize
  • drastic
  • dramaturge

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Drama.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/drama. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·