Etymologically
Log in

excellent

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 20:10. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈek.sᵊl.ᵊnt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English excellent,[2] borrowed from Old French excellent (“outstanding, excellent”),[3][4] from Latin excellēns (“towering, prominent, surpassing”) (accusative excellentem),[3][2] present participle of excellere (“to surpass; to rise, be eminent”),[3][2] from ex- (“out from”) and -cellere “to rise high”, related to celsus (“high, lofty”),[3] from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to be prominent; hill”).[3] It is related to excel, excellence and excellency.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Excelling, outstanding: 1382 in the OED, in a favourable sense,[5] and the mid-14th century in Etymonline.[3] At first it could refer to either a good or a bad quality, outstanding in either way.[4][6]

Semantic evolution

In a bad or neutral sense, as in an excellent villain, it is from 1588 and now obsolete or archaic.[5] “Excelling in rank or dignity, exalted” is from about 1400,[5] and it was used as a title of address from 1611.[5] “Haughty, assuming superiority” is from about 1430.[5] The current sense, an emphatic term of praise, “extremely good”, grew out of the first one[5] and dates from the early 17th century, 1604 in the OED.[4][5]

Timeline

  • 1382 – excelling, in a good sense.[5]
  • c. 1400 – exalted in rank.[5]
  • c. 1430 – haughty.[5]
  • 1588 – in a bad sense.[5]
  • 1604 – extremely good.[5][4]
  • 1611 – as a title of address.[5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Of the highest quality; exceptionally good.
  2. (obsolete) Superior; surpassing others.

Word family

  • excellently
  • superexcellent
  • unexcellent
  • excellence
  • excel
  • excellency
  • culminate

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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press