hindrance

Etymology

It is formed from English hinder + -ance,^[2][3][4][5] in Middle English hinderaunce and hindraunce,^[4][5][6][7] on the model of words of French origin such as resistance.^[2] Etymonline calls it a hybrid, a native verb with a French-derived suffix.^[8] The verb hinder is from Old English hindrian (“to harm, injure, impair, check, repress”),^[8][5][2] from Proto-Germanic *hinderōną (“to hinder”),^[1] formed from an adverb meaning "behind" (see hind).^[8][2][1] Its cognates include Dutch hinderen, German hindern, Old High German hintarōn and Old Norse hindra.^[8][2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Damage, harm, disadvantage: 1436, in the Libel of English Policy.^[2][5] The Middle English Dictionary has this sense of hindraunce, hurt or detriment, also in Margery Kempe before 1438.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The noun followed the verb, whose older sense in English was "to harm", the sense of keeping something back being recorded only from the late 14th century.^[8] The sense of harm faded out in the 16th century, with a last record in 1597,^[2][3] while the sense of obstruction is first recorded in 1526, in W. Bonde's Pylgrimage of Perfection.^[2][5][4] From 1576 a hindrance could also be a thing that gets in the way.^[2] Without hindrance and the set phrase let or hindrance keep the abstract sense, and steric hindrance is a compound of it.^[3] A verb hindrance, meaning to hinder, is recorded in 1664.^[2]

Timeline

• 1436 – injury, damage, disadvantage (obsolete by 1597).^[2][5]
• 1526 – obstruction, the prevention of progress.^[2][5][4]
• 1576 – an obstacle or impediment.^[2]
• 1664 – verb, to hinder (obsolete).^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Something that gets in the way; an impediment or obstacle: The narrow stairs were a hindrance to the removal men.^[7][9][2]
2. The act of hindering; prevention: hindrance of a police inquiry.^[7][9][4]
3. The state of being hindered.^[7][4]
4. (obsolete, 1436–1597) Injury, damage or disadvantage.^[2][3][6]

Word family

• steric hindrance

Related words

• hinder
• hind

References

1. ^ a b c 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
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. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins