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honorary

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Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈɑn.əˌɹɛɹ.i/[1]

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

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