gratify

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English gratifien,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Latin grātificor (“to do a favour to, oblige”), also grātificō.^[3][4][2][6] The OED, Hoad and the Shorter Oxford give French gratifier, recorded from the 16th century, as a source beside the Latin,^[7][8][9] and Merriam-Webster and Weekley give the French verb alone.^[10][11] The Latin verb is formed from grātus (“pleasing, thankful”) and a combining form of faciō (“to make, do”),^[4][12][6] and Barnhart traces it through a lost adjective *grātificus (“doing a kindness”).^[13] Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary, following Watkins, take grātus from Proto-Indo-European *gwerə- (“to favour”),^[4][3] and faciō is from Proto-Indo-European *dhe- (“to set, put”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To bestow grace upon, to favour: in the Middle English Pauline Epistles (manuscript before 1425, the text before 1400), at Ephesians 1:6, "in þe whiche he has gratyfied vs in his loued sone", rendering Latin gratificavit.^[2] Etymonline dates this to about 1400,^[4] and Barnhart to before 1400;^[13] the OED, not fully revised, begins only at 1548.^[7] The Oxford Dictionary of English gives "make pleasing" as the late Middle English sense.^[14]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century the verb was used for showing gratitude: from the 1530s in Etymonline,^[4] 1539 in Merriam-Webster^[10] and about 1540 in Barnhart.^[13] Rewarding with money, as a gratuity or a bribe, is recorded from 1590, in Greene.^[7][9] The English Dialect Dictionary records the sense "to reward, tip, give a douceur" as obsolete Scots.^[15] The sense of giving pleasure, which is now the main one, appears in 1568 in Barnhart and 1569 in the OED.^[13][7] Satisfying or indulging a desire, as distinct from pleasing a person, has a first quotation from 1662.^[7] Other 16th- and 17th-century uses died out: to welcome someone or express pleasure at an event (1548–1612) and to make pleasing or grace (1577–1698).^[7] Johnson (1755) already put "to indulge" and "to delight, to please" first, and gave "to requite" last.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – to bestow grace upon, to favour.^[2][4]
• 1539 – to show gratitude to; to reward (obsolete by 1655).^[10][7]
• 1548 – to express pleasure at, to welcome (obsolete by 1612).^[7]
• 1569 – to give pleasure or satisfaction to, to oblige.^[7] Barnhart has 1568.^[13]
• 1577 – to make pleasing, to grace (obsolete by 1698).^[7]
• 1590 – to give a gratuity to, to remunerate or bribe.^[7]
• 1662 – to indulge or satisfy a desire or feeling.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To give pleasure or satisfaction to: The young author was gratified by the reviews.^[12][10][3]
2. To give in to a desire or whim; to indulge: He gratified his craving with a second slice.^[12][10][3]
3. To do a favour for; to oblige.^[10][7]
4. (archaic) To reward, especially with money; to remunerate or tip.^[3][10][7]
5. (obsolete, c. 1550–1655) To show gratitude to someone; to requite.^[10][7]
6. (obsolete, 1548–1612) To receive with pleasure; to welcome.^[10][7]
7. (obsolete, 1577–1698) To make pleasing or acceptable; to grace.^[10][7][9]

Word family

• gratifier
• gratifying
• gratifyingly
• gratifiable
• gratification
• overgratify

Related words

• grace
• grateful
• gratitude
• -fy

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c 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 d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
14. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ 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)
16. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.