humiliation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English humiliacioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French humiliation, also humiliacion,^[4][5][6] and directly borrowed from Late Latin humiliātiō (“a humbling”),^[5][7][4] a noun of action from humiliō (“to humble”),^[4][5] from Latin humilis (“lowly, humble”),^[5] literally "on the ground", from humus (“earth”).^[5] Etymonline traces it further to Proto-Indo-European *dhghem- (“earth”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of humbling, or the state of being humbled; abasement: about 1386, in Chaucer's Parson's Tale, where a man is not sorry for "his humyliacioun".^[4][2] It could also mean humble behaviour, or the virtue of humility itself.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

For a long time the word was close to humility: the OED notes that it often meant a humbled or humble condition.^[4][6] Johnson (1755) gave the senses "descent from greatness", "mortification; external expression of sin and unworthiness" and "abatement of pride".^[8] The verb humiliate, recorded from 1533, at first meant simply to make humble, and only from 1757 to lower someone's dignity or self-respect;^[4] the modern sense of humiliation, shame and loss of self-respect, follows that change.^[4][3] The countable use, "a humiliation", is recorded from 1526.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1386 – humbling, abasement, in Chaucer.^[4][2]
• c. 1450 – humble behaviour.^[2]
• 1526 – a humiliation, an instance of it.^[4]
• 1533 – the verb humiliate, to make humble.^[4]
• 1755 – Johnson defines it as descent from greatness and abatement of pride.^[8]
• 1757 – humiliate in the sense of injuring someone's dignity.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state or feeling of being humiliated; shame and loss of self-respect: He could not bear the humiliation of asking for help.^[3][6][4]
2. The act of humiliating someone.^[3][4]
3. An instance of this; a humiliating experience: The defeat was a public humiliation for the team.^[3][4]
4. (obsolete) Humility; a humble condition.^[4][6]

Word family

• rehumiliation
• self-humiliation

Related words

• humble
• humiliate
• humility
• humus

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
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 d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.