ferocity

Etymology

It is borrowed from French férocité,^[2][3][4][5] which is from Latin ferōcitās (“fierceness”),^[2][3][6] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English allow a direct borrowing from the Latin noun as well.^[5][7][8] That noun is from ferōx (“bold, warlike; fierce, savage, cruel”),^[3][2][6] which Etymonline explains as "wild-looking", from ferus (“wild”) and a suffix meaning "looking, appearing".^[3][6] The Latin adjective is from Proto-Indo-European *ghwer- (“wild beast”).^[3] The Anglo-Norman ferocité (“fierceness”) is recorded before 1399.^[9] Johnson derived it from the Latin and French nouns.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The quality of being ferocious; fierceness or savageness: 1606, in William Warner's A Continuance of Albions England.^[2][5] Etymonline dates it to about 1600,^[3] Dictionary.com to 1600–10,^[11] and the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English to the mid 16th century.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept the sense of savage fierceness, and is also used for a ferocious act.^[2][7] Johnson (1755) defined it as savageness, wildness and fierceness, quoting Addison's Guardian.^[10] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also records a weakened sense, extreme or furious intensity, as of joy.^[5] The adjective ferocious is recorded from the 1640s, later than the noun.^[3]

Timeline

• 1606 – fierceness, savageness; a ferocious act.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality or state of being ferocious; savage fierceness: The dogs attacked with startling ferocity.^[5][2][12]
2. Extreme or furious intensity: the ferocity of the storm.^[5]
3. A ferocious act.^[2][7]

Related words

• feral
• ferity
• fierce
• ferocious

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ 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.
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins