honorary

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin honōrārius (“given voluntarily; of or from public office”),^[2][3][4][5] from honor (“honour, public office”) and the suffix -ārius.^[2][3] Etymonline instead forms it in English from honour and -ary, possibly influenced by the Latin word and French honoraire.^[6] The OED compares the French word's development: in Middle French it meant holding a title or office given as an honour, without its usual duties, from 1496.^[2] The Latin noun is of unknown origin.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Conferred or made in honour of someone: 1606, in Holland's translation of Suetonius;^[2][3] Etymonline dates the word to the 1610s, in the sense "bringing honour, done or made to signify honour".^[6]

Semantic evolution

The modern sense, of a title or office given as an honour without the usual duties or privileges, followed in 1612, in Drayton,^[2] and Etymonline dates it to the 1660s.^[6] From 1631 it described the holder of such a title,^[2] and since 1658, in Sir T. Browne, a monument raised to someone buried elsewhere.^[2] Johnson (1755) gave the sense "done in honour", quoting Addison on honorary arches.^[7] From 1694 an honorary obligation was one binding only on one's honour, not in law,^[2][8] and since 1758 the word was used of unpaid posts, such as an honorary secretary or treasurer.^[2][8] Since 1893 it has also described someone accepted as a member of a group, such as a family, to which he or she does not belong.^[2] A noun honorary, meaning an honorarium, is recorded from 1610, from Latin honōrārium;^[2] it is now rare.^[4][3]

Timeline

• 1606 – done or conferred in honour of someone.^[2][3]
• 1610 – noun, an honorarium.^[2]
• 1612 – of a title, given as an honour without the usual duties.^[2]
• 1631 – of a person, holding such a title.^[2]
• 1658 – of a monument, raised to someone buried elsewhere.^[2]
• 1675 – noun, an honorary member.^[2]
• 1694 – of an obligation, binding on one's honour only.^[2]
• 1758 – unpaid, voluntary.^[2]
• 1893 – accepted as a member of a group one does not belong to.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a title, degree or position, given as an honour, without the usual requirements, duties or privileges: an honorary doctorate.^[8][3][2]
2. Holding such a title or position: an honorary citizen.^[8][2]
3. Of an office, unpaid: the club's honorary treasurer.^[8][2]
4. Done or made in honour of someone; commemorative.^[3][2]
5. Treated as a member of a group to which one does not belong.^[2]
6. Of an obligation, depending on honour rather than on a legal agreement.^[8][2]

Noun

1. An honorary degree, or a person who holds one; an honorary society.^[3]
2. (archaic) An honorarium.^[3][4][2]

Word family

• honorarily

Related words

• honor
• honorable
• honorific

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 r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins