fracas

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈfɹækɑː/, /fɹəˈkɑː/ (UK); /ˈfɹeɪkəs/, /ˈfɹækəs/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French fracas (“crash, din, row”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Italian fracasso (“uproar, crash”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from fracassare “to smash, shatter”.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Etymonline and Random House analyse the Italian verb as fra-, from Latin infra, and cassare “to break”,^[4][6] which Etymonline derives from Latin quassare “to shake”.^[4] It is related to quash.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A disturbance, noisy quarrel or uproar (1727 in the OED, Barnhart and Etymonline, 1716 in Merriam-Webster).^[7][3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed close to the French one,^[7][4] today usually a noisy fight or brawl.^[2][5][6]

Timeline

• 1716 – Merriam-Webster's date.^[5]
• 1720–30 – Random House's dating.^[6]
• 1727 – a noisy quarrel (OED, Barnhart, Etymonline).^[7][3][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A noisy, disorderly fight or quarrel; a brawl.
2. A disturbance or uproar.

Related words

• quash
• cashier
• brawl

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press