Etymologically
Log in

holocaust

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 15:53. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈhɒl.ə(ʊ)ˌkɔːst/ (UK); /ˈhɑl.əˌkɔst/, /ˈhoʊ.lə-/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English holocaust, borrowed from Old French holocauste or directly Late Latin holocaustum,[2][3][4] from Ancient Greek ὁλόκαυστον (holókauston, “a thing wholly burnt”), the neuter of ὁλόκαυστος (holókaustos, “burnt whole”),[2][3] from ὅλος (hólos, “whole”) and καυστός (kaustós, “burnt”), from καίω (kaíō, “to burn”) (see caustic).[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sacrifice wholly consumed by fire, a burnt offering: about 1250, in the Story of Genesis and Exodus, in Barnhart and the OED.[3][5] It was originally a Bible word.[2]

Semantic evolution

A sacrifice on a large scale is from 1497,[5] and complete destruction, especially by fire, or a massacre, from 1671, in Milton's Samson Agonistes.[3][5][2] Total destruction has been central to the word since it first appeared.[6] As the name for the mass murder of European Jews by the Nazis, the Holocaust is in the OED from 1942, in Etymonline first recorded in 1957;[5][2] other names for it are Shoah and Churban.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1250 – a burnt offering.[3][5]
  • 1497 – a large-scale sacrifice.[5]
  • 1671 – a massacre; complete destruction.[3][5]
  • 1942 – the Holocaust.[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Great destruction or loss of life, especially by fire.
  2. The Holocaust: the genocide of European Jews and others by the Nazi regime during the Second World War.
  3. A massive slaughter.
  4. A sacrificial offering wholly burnt on an altar.

Word family

  • holocaustal
  • holocaustic

Usage notes

Some writers object to its use for anything other than the Nazi genocide or catastrophic destruction by fire,[6] but the wider sense of massacre goes back to the 17th and 18th centuries.[8][5]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  8. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press