drunkenness

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English drunkennesse,^[2][3] inherited from Old English druncennes (“drunkenness”),^[4][5][2][6] formed from Old English druncen + -nes.^[2][7][6] The adjective druncen is an old past participle of drincan (“to drink”).^[8][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The state of being drunk, or the habit of drinking too much: in the Old English translation of Orosius,^[7][4] and in the Old English Gospel of Luke (21:34), where on druncenesse renders the Latin in ebrietate.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The noun has kept its literal sense since Old English.^[7] A figurative use, intoxication of the mind or spirit, appears about 1175 in the Ormulum,^[7] and Macaulay could still write of "the drunkenness of factious animosity".^[2] Johnson (1755) separated intoxication with strong liquor, habitual ebriety, and "disorder of the faculties" of any kind, as when passion is called the drunkenness of the mind.^[9] Middle English also had the rival formations drunkenhead (c. 1300) and drunkenship (mid-15th century),^[6] and the OED records a shorter drunkness.^[7] From 1786 the word was a technical term for the unsteady thread of a screw.^[7]

Timeline

• Old English – the state of being drunk; the habit of drinking to excess.^[7][4]
• c. 1175 – figurative, intoxication of the mind or spirit, in the Ormulum.^[7]
• 1786 – unsteadiness of the thread of a screw.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being drunk; intoxication: He was fined for drunkenness on the platform.^[2][10][7]
2. The habit of drinking too much; alcoholism.^[2][10][7]
3. A wild excess of mind or feeling that resembles the effect of alcohol.^[2][7]
4. Unsteadiness of the thread of a screw.^[7]

Related words

• drunk
• drunkard
• drunken
• drink

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ Mayhew, A. L.; Skeat, Walter W. (1888), A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
5. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
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 The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers