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horror

Etymology and origin of the English word horror

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1325
Borrowed from
Old French horror via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin (horrēre)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈhɒr.ə/, US /ˈhɔːr.ɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English horer, orrour, borrowed from Old French orror, horreur, and directly from Latin horror (“a shaking, trembling; dread”),[2][3][4] from horrēre (“to bristle with fear, shudder”),[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *ghers- (“to bristle”), the source also of Sanskrit hárṣate “he shudders”.[2][3] The h in the spelling was restored after the Latin.[3] It is related to horrible, horrid, horrify and hirsute.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A feeling of disgust: the early 14th century in Etymonline, before 1325 in Barnhart.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

A painful emotion of loathing and fear, and also a thing that causes it, are from the late 14th century.[2][7] In a literal sense it was used of roughness (1382) and, from 1533, of shivering, especially as a symptom of disease.[7] Reverent fear or awe is from 1579.[7] The horrors, a fit of extreme depression, especially in delirium tremens, is from 1768.[7] The chamber of horrors was originally, in 1849, a gallery of criminals in Madame Tussaud's.[2] As a genre of film it is from 1934 in Etymonline, 1936 in MWU.[2][4]

Timeline

  • c. 1325 – a feeling of disgust.[3][2]
  • c. 1375 – loathing and fear.[7]
  • 1533 – shivering.[7]
  • 1768 – the horrors.[7]
  • 1849 – chamber of horrors.[2]
  • 1934 – a film genre.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Intense fear and disgust; terror.
  2. Strong dislike or loathing.
  3. Something that causes horror.
  4. (informal) A badly behaved person, especially a child.
  5. A genre of films and books meant to frighten: a horror film.

Word family

  • horror-struck
  • chamber of horrors
  • horror show
  • horror story
  • horrendous
  • horrible
  • horrid
  • horrific
  • horrify
  • abhor
  • hirsute

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Horror.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/horror. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·