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gust

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Etymology and origin of the English word gust

Pronunciation

gust1 taste, relish

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1430 Pilgrimage of the Life of Manhood
Borrowed from
Latin gustus via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin gustus
Etymology tree of gust1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin gustus
French goût
English gust
From the same root · gust1
English gusto ← gustus

Etymology

The noun meaning taste is inherited from Middle English guste,[2][1] borrowed from Latin gustus (“taste, a tasting”),[3][4][2][5][6] and Wiktionary adds Old French gust, also goust;[1] the Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from the second quarter of the 13th century for the sense of taste and for flavour.[7] The Latin noun is akin to gustō (“to taste”),[2][6] and to choose.[2][5] It is also the source of French goût and of the Spanish word that English borrowed as gusto.[3][4][5][2] The verb is from the noun or from the Latin verb.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The sense of taste, or an act of tasting: about 1430, in the Pilgrimage of the Life of Manhood, where the verb "to taste" also appears.[3] Dictionary.com dates the noun 1400–50.[6]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century gust came to mean personal taste or liking (from Shakespeare's Sonnets, 1609), keen relish or enjoyment (1635), and, briefly, artistic taste.[3] Merriam-Webster thinks the sense of keen delight probably came from Spanish gusto (“delight, pleasure, taste”).[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as the sense of tasting and as the height of sensual enjoyment.[8] Most of these senses are obsolete or archaic,[3][4] but Scots kept gust for a liking or relish, with derivatives such as gustfu' and gusty, tasty.[9] The verb "to taste or relish" survives in Scotland.[2][3]

Timeline

  • c. 1430 – the sense of taste; verb, to taste.[3]
  • c. 1540 – flavour.[3]
  • 1609 – personal taste or liking (obsolete by 1733).[3]
  • 1635 – keen relish or enjoyment.[3]
  • 1658 – to have a gust of, to have a liking for.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (archaic) The sense of taste.[3][4][2]
  2. (archaic) Flavour, especially a pleasant one; relish.[3][4][2]
  3. (archaic) Keen enjoyment or appreciation: a gust for travel.[3][2]

Verb

  1. (Scottish) To taste or relish.[2][3]

Word family

  • gustable

gust2 rush of wind

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1588 Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus
Borrowed from
Old Norse gustr
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰew-

Etymology

The noun for a blast of wind is probably borrowed from Old Norse gustr (“a gust, cold blast”),[3][2][10][11][12][5][13] related to gjósa (“to gush”), whose weak grade it shows,[12][5][4][13] and to Old High German gussa (“flood”).[14][11][2] Wiktionary and Etymonline trace it to Proto-Germanic *gustiz and Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰew- (“to pour”).[1][11] Because it appears so late in English, the OED, Barnhart and Etymonline suppose that it lived on in dialect or among sailors before it was written down.[3][14][11] Ayto relates it to geyser, from the same Old Norse verb,[15][13][5] and Partridge to gush.[16][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sudden, violent rush of wind: in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, dated 1588 by Barnhart and Merriam-Webster[14][2] and 1594 by the OED.[3]

Semantic evolution

Ayto notes that the underlying meaning is a sudden rush or gush, and that related words refer to water or steam rather than wind.[15] In English the word soon spread to a burst of rain or water (1610), a figurative outburst (1611) and a burst of fire, smoke or sound (1674).[3] The adjective gusty is recorded from 1600.[14] The verb "to blow in gusts" dates from 1813, in Coleridge;[3][11][2] in Scotland it was used from the late 18th century for blasting with sea spray.[4] Merriam-Webster also records an aviation sense, a sudden change in wind speed or direction strong enough to load an aircraft.[2] In Galloway a flighty, talkative person could be called naething but a gust.[9]

Timeline

  • 1588 – a sudden rush of wind, in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus.[14][2] The OED dates the play's use to 1594.[3]
  • 1600 – gusty.[14]
  • 1610 – a burst of rain or water.[3]
  • 1611 – figurative, an outburst.[3]
  • 1674 – a burst of fire, smoke or sound.[3]
  • 1813 – verb, to blow in gusts.[3][11][2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A sudden, brief rush of wind: A gust lifted the tablecloth off the table.[13][2][3]
  2. A sudden burst of rain, smoke, sound or the like.[13][2][3]
  3. An outburst of feeling: a gust of anger.[13][2][3]
  4. (aviation) A sudden change in the speed or direction of the wind, strong enough to put a load on an aircraft.[2]

Verb

  1. Of wind, to blow in gusts: The wind gusted to sixty miles an hour.[13][2][3]

Word family

  • gusty
  • gustily
  • gustiness
  • gustless

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ a b 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)
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  11. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  12. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  13. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  14. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  15. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  16. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul

Related etymologies

  • rotten · also from Old Norse
  • kindle · also from Old Norse
  • awe · also from Old Norse
  • scar · also from Old Norse
  • crawl · also from Old Norse
  • skate · also from Old Norse
  • troll · also from Old Norse
  • thrive · also from Old Norse
Cite this entry

“Gust.” Etymologically, 2 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/gust. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

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