Etymologically
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hazardous

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Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈhæ.zɚ.dɪs/, /-dəs/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English hazard + -ous,[2][3][4] perhaps after Middle French hasardeux (“risky”), recorded from 1540;[2] SOED, the Oxford Dictionary of English and Merriam-Webster take it straight from the French word, which is formed from hasard (“chance”).[5][6][7] The noun hazard first named a game of dice, and goes back to hasard, probably ultimately from Arabic اَلزَّهْر (az-zahr, “the die”),[2][3][8] although that word is not found in classical Arabic, and Etymonline calls the origin uncertain.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Full of risk or danger; risky: 1549, in a letter in the Scottish correspondence of Mary of Lorraine.[2] Etymonline dates the word to the 1580s, when it meant "venturesome", and the sense "perilous" to the 1610s;[3] Merriam-Webster's first date is 1585.[7]

Semantic evolution

The adjective followed its noun, whose sense had moved in French from the gambling game to the chances of the game and then to the chances of life.[3] Besides "risky" (1549), it was used of people for "given to taking risks, reckless" from 1560, a sense the Shorter Oxford marks as obsolete since the 17th century,[2][5] and for "depending on chance, like the game of hazard" from 1585.[2][7] Johnson (1755) defined it as "dangerous; exposed to chance".[9] In Rutland and Surrey dialect it kept the meaning "uncertain, depending on chance", as of a crop.[10] The sense "harmful to health or to the environment", now common of substances, is recorded from 1748.[2]

Timeline

  • 1549 – fraught with risk; dangerous.[2]
  • 1560 – of a person, reckless, venturesome.[2][5]
  • 1585 – depending on chance.[2][7]
  • 1748 – harmful to health or the environment; toxic.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Involving great risk or danger: a hazardous climb along the cliff edge.
  2. Harmful to people's health or to the environment; toxic: hazardous chemicals.
  3. Depending on chance; aleatory.

Word family

  • hazardously
  • hazardousness
  • ultrahazardous
  • unhazardous

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ 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)