entreat

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English entreten,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman entraiter, also entreiter and entreter,^[5][3] and Middle French entraiter,^[5][6] formed from en- (“make, cause”) and traiter (“to treat”),^[7][8][5][9] the source of treat,^[7][10] from Latin tractāre (“to handle”).^[11][12][10] In Anglo-Norman it is recorded from 1280–1307, for negotiating, discussing and dealing with someone.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To enter into negotiations, especially about peace terms: before 1400, in the Cursor Mundi.^[5][8][7] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1300–50, and Merriam-Webster to the 14th century.^[13][6]

Semantic evolution

The first senses all came from dealing with someone or something: negotiating,^[5][7] treating a subject in writing (from about 1415),^[5] and treating a person in a certain way, as when Mandeville says that the Lord was vileyusly entreted.^[2][5] The modern sense is a long way from these, as Weekley notes.^[14] It appears from the 1420s, first as pleading for someone, then as persuading and begging;^[5][8][7] the OED finds no parallels in French and compares treat,^[5] and Hoad says that the sense "implore" was carried over from treat, which had it too.^[10] Johnson (1755) still listed "to treat or use well or ill", beside "to petition", and "to entertain, to amuse", from Romeo and Juliet.^[15] The OED shows the sense of treating lingering, in archaic use, until 1923,^[5] and the English Dialect Dictionary calls it still very common in eastern Suffolk.^[16] The obsolete noun entreat, an appeal, lasted from 1532 to 1817.^[5] The noun entreaty passed the same way, from treatment and negotiation in 1448 to an earnest request by 1573.^[8]

Timeline

• before 1400 – to negotiate, to discuss terms (obsolete after 1872).^[5][7]
• c. 1415 – to deal with a matter, in speech or writing (obsolete).^[5]
• before 1425 – to treat a person in a specified way.^[5][2]
• c. 1425 – to persuade, to prevail upon (obsolete after 1782).^[5][8]
• 1427 – to plead, to beg for a favour.^[5]
• early 16th century – to request a person earnestly, transitively.^[9]
• 1532 – noun, a supplication (obsolete after 1817).^[5]
• late 16th century – to ask earnestly for a thing.^[9]
• 1590 – to occupy oneself with, in Spenser (obsolete).^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To ask someone earnestly; to beg or implore: She entreated the guards to let her pass.^[17][6][9]
2. To make an earnest request for something: He entreated their forgiveness.^[17][6][9]
3. (archaic) To treat a person in a specified way.^[17][6][9]
4. (obsolete, 1425–1782) To persuade; to prevail upon.^[5][6][9]
5. (obsolete, 1400–1872) To negotiate; to discuss terms.^[5][9]

Noun

1. (obsolete, 1532–1817) An entreaty.^[5][6]

Word family

• entreatingly
• entreatment
• entreaty
• unentreated

Related words

• treat
• treaty
• treatise

Usage notes

The spelling intreat is now rare.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ 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 l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ 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)
17. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins