enjoyment

Etymology

It is formed from English enjoy + -ment, from the verb with the noun suffix.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The verb is inherited from Middle English enjoyen (“to rejoice, be glad”), borrowed from Old French enjoir (“to give joy, take delight in”), from the prefix en- and joir (“to enjoy”), which continues Latin gaudeō (“to rejoice”).^[4][3] The OED allows a second source for the verb, Old French enjoier (“to give joy to”), formed on joie (“joy”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action or state of taking pleasure or satisfaction in something, and also of possessing and benefiting from it: 1553, in John Brende's translation of the history of Alexander by Quintus Curtius Rufus.^[2][4][7] Etymonline gives the 1550s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The noun took over both senses of the verb: the older one of having and using something good, which enjoy had from the early 15th century,^[3] and the pleasure taken in it.^[2][8] The concrete sense, a thing that gives pleasure, follows in 1665, in Robert Boyle's Occasional Reflections;^[2][8] Etymonline dates it to 1732.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined the word as "pleasure; happiness; fruition", quoting Tillotson on a man whose hopes are bigger than his enjoyments.^[9] In law the possession or exercise of a right is still called its enjoyment.^[10][7]

Timeline

• late 14th century – the verb enjoy, to rejoice.^[3][4]
• 1553 – the noun, the action or state of enjoying something.^[2][4][7]
• 1665 – a thing that gives pleasure;^[2] 1732 in Etymonline.^[3]
• 1755 – Johnson's "pleasure; happiness; fruition".^[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The state or feeling of taking pleasure in something: The children watched the puppet show with obvious enjoyment.
2. Something that gives pleasure or satisfaction.
3. The having and use of something that brings a benefit, such as good health or a legal right: the enjoyment of full civil liberties.

Related words

• enjoy
• joy
• rejoice
• jovial

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins