Etymologically
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hesitation

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Pronunciation

  • /ˌhɛzɪˈteɪʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin haesitātiō (“hesitation, stammering; irresolution, uncertainty”),[2][3][4][5][6] the noun of action from haesitō (“to stick fast; to stammer; to be undecided”),[2][3] a frequentative of haereō (“to stick, cling, adhere”).[2][3] Etymonline allows that it may have come through Old French hesitacion,[3] and Klein derives it from French hésitation,[7] which the OED notes from about 1400.[2] Watkins traced the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *ghais- (“to adhere, hesitate”), also the source of Lithuanian gaišti (“to delay, tarry”), but Etymonline notes that some linguists reject the connection and that de Vaan gives no etymology.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Hesitation, irresolution: before 1425, in a Middle English translation of the Pauline Epistles, Alle thyngys do ȝee withoute murmuracyouns and hesitacyouns.[6] Etymonline dates the word to about 1400,[3] and Merriam-Webster to the 14th century,[5] while the OED's first record is from 1622.[2]

Semantic evolution

In the OED the general sense, pausing or delaying a decision out of irresolution, is first quoted from Bacon's Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh (1622), and its use for a single instance, with a plural, from 1695.[2] The sense of halting speech, embarrassed faltering or stammering, follows in 1709, in Steele's Tatler.[2] Johnson (1755) gave both: "doubt; uncertainty" and "intermission of speech; want of volubility".[8] In the 20th century the word named a dance, the hesitation waltz (1914), in which the dancers break the waltz with a gliding pause,[2][5] and linguists spoke of a hesitation form for a filler sound such as er (1933, Bloomfield).[2] In Cheshire dialect a hesitation was a half-promise.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 1400 – irresolution, in a Middle English translation of the Pauline Epistles.[6][3]
  • 1622 – the action of hesitating, in Bacon.[2]
  • 1695 – an instance of hesitating.[2]
  • 1709 – faltering in speech, stammering.[2]
  • 1755 – Johnson defines it as doubt and as interruption of speech.[8]
  • 1914 – the hesitation waltz.[2]
  • 1933 – hesitation form, a filler sound in speech.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act of hesitating; a pause or delay caused by doubt or irresolution: After a moment's hesitation, he opened the letter.[5][2][4]
  2. A faltering in speech; stammering.[5][2][8]
  3. A waltz in which the dancers pause with a gliding step, also called a hesitation waltz; the gliding step itself.[5][2]

References

  1. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c 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)
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ 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)