humiliate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin humiliātus, the past participle of humiliō (“to humble”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} which is from Latin humilis (“low, humble”),^[4][7][2] itself from humus (“earth, ground”),^[8][7] from Proto-Indo-European *dhghem- (“earth”).^[8] Barnhart takes it as probably a back-formation from humiliation, after the Latin verb,^[9] and Etymonline gives both explanations.^[8] The noun, recorded from about 1386 in Chaucer, is from Old French and Late Latin.^[4][10][9] An earlier verb, humily (“to humble oneself”) (mid-15th century), came from Old French humilier;^[8] the OED compares the French verb.^[4] The Latin adjective is also the source of humble.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make low or humble in position, condition or feeling; to humble: 1533–4, in a letter on the suppression of the monasteries.^[4][9][2] The reflexive use, to humble oneself, belonged to this sense.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The original meaning was to bring low or humble;^[11][4] Burton wrote of how much we ought to "examine and humiliate our selves".^[5] The OED records this sense until 1776.^[4] The modern sense, to injure someone's dignity or self-respect, appeared in 1757,^[4] which matches the Oxford Dictionary of English's dating of the current sense to the mid 18th century.^[11] Hoad likewise dates "reduce the dignity of" to the 18th century.^[10] In 1593 Nashe also used humiliate as an adjective, "humbled".^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1386 – the noun humiliation, in Chaucer's Parson's Tale.^[4][9]
• 1533 – to humble, to make low (obsolete by 1776).^[4][9]
• 1593 – adjective, humbled.^[4]
• 1757 – to injure the dignity or self-respect of; to mortify.^[4][11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hurt the dignity or pride of someone; to make someone feel ashamed or foolish: The coach humiliated the team in front of the fans.^[12][2][4]
2. (obsolete, 1533–1776) To humble; to make low in position or feeling.^[4][5][13]

Word family

• humiliation
• humiliator
• rehumiliate

Related words

• humble
• humility
• humus
• human

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers