gratitude

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈɡræt.ɪ.tʃuːd/, US /ˈɡræt̬.ə.tuːd/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French gratitude or directly Medieval Latin grātitūdō (“thankfulness”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Latin grātus (“thankful, pleasing”) (see grace),^[2][3][4] which Watkins traces to Proto-Indo-European *gwere- (“to favour”).^[3] Merriam-Webster notes that the first English use was Scots.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Good will: before 1447 in Barnhart, the mid-15th century in Etymonline.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Grace or favour, chiefly in Scots, is from 1500–20, in Dunbar,^[2][7] and a free gift or gratuity from 1535.^[7] The modern sense, thankfulness, is first recorded in 1565.^[2][7][3] Gratify, grateful, gratuity and gratuitous go back to the same Latin word.^[8]

Timeline

• before 1447 – good will.^[2]
• 1500–20 – grace, favour (Scots).^[2][7]
• 1535 – a gratuity (Scots).^[7]
• 1565 – thankfulness.^[2][7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A feeling of thankfulness or appreciation, as for gifts or favours.

Word family

• overgratitude

Related words

• grace
• grateful
• gratification
• gratify
• gratuity
• ingratitude

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 d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press