ignoble

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ignoble,^[2][3] borrowed from Middle French ignoble (“of low birth, of base character”),^[4][5][6] and its source borrowed from Latin ignōbilis (“unknown, obscure, of low birth, base”),^[4][6][7][8] from in- (“not”) and gnōbilis, the older form of nōbilis (“noble”),^{[6][9][8][10]} the source of noble, from Proto-Indo-European *gno- (“to know”).^[6] Barnhart notes that the Latin word was first pronounced with a nasal before the g, and only later as it was spelled.^[5] The OED compares Spanish innoble and Italian ignobile.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of low birth: 1447, in Bokenham's Lives of Saints, "Not oonly ygnoble was þis Quyncyan".^[4][2][5] Hoad dates the word only to the 16th century.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The Latin word had already moved from "unknown, obscure" to "of low birth" and "dishonourable", and Middle French had both of the last two by the late 14th century.^[4] English took the social meaning first.^[4][6] The moral sense, "not honourable, base", appears in 1592, in Nashe,^[4][6] after a general sense of lesser quality in things (1585).^[4] It was applied to breeds of animals from 1602 to 1915,^[4] and in falconry, after medieval Latin use going back to Albertus Magnus in the 13th century, to short-winged hawks such as the goshawk and sparrowhawk (1768).^[4][12] A verb, "to debase", formed as the opposite of ennoble, dates from about 1590, in Bacon,^[4] and a noun from 1603.^[4] Johnson (1755) still put "mean of birth" first and "worthless" second,^[13] an order modern dictionaries often reverse.^[3][9]

Timeline

• 1447 – of low birth or humble station.^[4][2]
• 1585 – of lesser quality or status than others of its kind.^[4]
• c. 1590 – verb, to make ignoble, to debase.^[4]
• 1592 – not honourable, base.^[4] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1590s.^[6]
• 1602 – of a breed of animal, less admirable (obsolete after 1915).^[4]
• 1603 – noun, a person of low birth or base character.^[4]
• 1768 – in falconry, of a short-winged hawk.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not honourable in character or purpose; base, despicable: an ignoble retreat from his promises.^[3][9][7][4]
2. Of low birth or humble origin; common.^[3][9][7][4]
3. Of low quality; inferior.^[9][4]
4. (falconry) Of a short-winged hawk, such as the goshawk, that chases its prey rather than swooping on it from a height.^[9][4][12]

Noun

1. A person of low birth or base character; with the, such people as a group.^[4][12]

Verb

1. To make ignoble; to debase.^[4][12]

Word family

• ignobility
• ignobly
• ignobleness

Related words

• noble
• ennoble
• know

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ 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
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.