Etymologically
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horrific

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:49. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /həˈɹɪfɪk/[1]
  • US: /həˈɹɪfɪk/, /hɔˈɹɪfɪk/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French horrifique, recorded in Rabelais in 1532, or directly Latin horrificus (“dreadful, causing terror”),[2][3][4][5][6] which the American Heritage Dictionary and the Oxford Dictionary of English give as the source.[7][8] The Latin adjective is formed from horreō (“to bristle, tremble, shudder”) and the suffix Latin -ficus (“making”), which became -fic;[7][6][3][5] it meant literally "making the hair stand on end".[3][5] The same verb is the source of horror, horrid and horrible.[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Causing horror, horrifying: 1653, in Sir Thomas Urquhart's translation of Rabelais,[2][9][6] the 1650s in Etymonline and 1645–55 in Dictionary.com.[3][10]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its first meaning since the 17th century.[2][9] Etymonline notes that an older English adjective, horriferous, is recorded from the 1620s,[3] and the adverb horrifically from the late 17th century.[4] In current use it is a strong word for anything shocking or appalling, from injuries and crimes to a very bad experience.[11][4]

Timeline

  • 1620s – horriferous.[3]
  • 1653 – causing horror.[2][6]
  • late 17th century – horrifically.[4]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Causing horror; horrifying, dreadful: The crash left the driver with horrific burns.

Word family

  • horrifically

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 c d 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 Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins