Etymologically
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hysterical

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Pronunciation

  • /hɪˈstɛɹɪkəl/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin hystericus (“of the womb; hysterical”) with the English suffix -al,[2][3][4][5] like hysteric.[6] The Latin adjective is from Ancient Greek ὑστερικός (husterikós, “of the womb, suffering in the womb”),[2][4][7] from ὑστέρα (hustérā, “womb”) and the suffix -ικός (-ikós).[2][3] Etymonline traces the Greek noun to Proto-Indo-European *udtero-, a variant of *udero- (“abdomen, womb, stomach”),[4] and Ayto relates it to uterus (“womb”).[7] The word was applied to women, whose disorders were thought to come from the womb.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to the "hysterical passion", a disorder ascribed to the womb: 1603, in E. Jorden's treatise on the disease called the Suffocation of the Mother.[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1610s,[4] and Dictionary.com to 1605–15.[5]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century the adjective was a medical term: it described women affected with the disorder (1615) and the remedies used against it (1651).[2] The noun hysteria, coined in medical Latin and recorded from 1801, later named the condition itself,[4][7] and the plural noun hystericals, for fits of uncontrollable emotion, appears in 1797.[2] By 1862, in Carlyle, the word described any wild, uncontrolled emotion or agitation,[2] and since 1925 it has been used colloquially for "extremely funny",[2] from the idea of fits of laughter, which Etymonline dates by 1939.[4] American English once also had the colloquial hystericky (1792) for "inclined to hysteria".[4]

Timeline

  • 1603 – relating to the hysterical passion, a disorder ascribed to the womb.[2]
  • 1615 – affected by that disorder.[2]
  • 1651 – of a medicine, used against disorders of the womb.[2]
  • 1797 – noun in the plural, a fit of uncontrollable emotion.[2]
  • 1862 – marked by wild, unrestrained emotion.[2]
  • 1925 – colloquially, extremely funny.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Showing wild, uncontrolled emotion, such as fear, grief or excitement: The crowd grew hysterical as the gates closed.[8][3][2]
  2. Of, relating to or affected by hysteria as a medical or psychogenic disorder.[8][3][2]
  3. (informal) Extremely funny; hilarious: Her impression of the headmaster was hysterical.[8][2]

Word family

  • hysterically
  • overhysterical
  • posthysterical
  • semihysterical
  • unhysterical

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  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 Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins