impair

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English empeiren, also empairen and enpeiren,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman empeirier and Old French empeirer,^[5][3][6] now empirer.^[5][7] The French verb is from Vulgar Latin *impēiōrō (“to make worse”),^[4][7][8][9] formed from in- and Late Latin pēiōrō (“to make worse”),^[3][7][6] from Latin pēior (“worse”),^[4][7][10] which Etymonline, following Watkins, suggests originally meant "stumbling", from Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“foot”).^[7] The OED also compares Medieval Latin impeiorare, recorded from the 8th century.^[5] Earlier English forms include ampayre, apeyre and empeyren;^[7][11][3] the modern spelling follows Latin words beginning with im-.^[6][10][7] Barnhart adds that the English forms may in part be a back-formation from emparement, impairment.^[3] The verb has nothing to do with repair, which goes back to Latin parō (“to make ready”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To weaken or make worse: the OED's first record is from 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt.^[5] Etymonline finds the older forms ampayre and apeyre about 1300,^[7] and Barnhart first finds enpeyren about 1380.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The Anglo-Norman and Old French verb already had a wide range before English took it, including "to grow worse", "to weaken", "to damage" and "to harm financially".^[5][12] English kept the transitive sense "make worse", and for several centuries also used the verb intransitively for "deteriorate", especially in health, until the 1850s.^[5] From the 16th century it could mean depriving someone of something valuable, a use the OED now calls somewhat rare.^[5] A noun meaning "damage, impairment" was formed from the verb in 1567 and lasted until the 19th century;^[5] Johnson gives it in 1755 as "diminution; decrease".^[13] The use for driving under the influence of alcohol is recorded by 1951 in Canadian English.^[7]

Timeline

• 1340 – to weaken or make worse, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt.^[5]
• c. 1380 – intransitive, to become weaker or deteriorate (obsolete by 1855).^[5]
• before 1525 – to deprive a person of something useful or valuable.^[5]
• 1567 – noun, an act of damaging; impairment (obsolete by 1848).^[5]
• 1611 – the spelling with im-, in the noun impairment, which influenced the verb.^[3]
• 1951 – of driving under the influence of alcohol, in Canadian English.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make weaker or worse; to reduce in strength, quality or value; to damage: Smoke from the fire impaired the climbers' vision.^{[14][4][2][5]}
2. (obsolete, c. 1380–1855) To become weaker; to deteriorate.^[5][2]

Noun

1. (archaic) Impairment; injury.^[2][5][11]

Word family

• impairment
• impairer
• impairable

Related words

• pejorative
• pejoration

Usage notes

Separately, English has a rare impair, borrowed from French impair (“odd, uneven”), from Latin impār (“unequal, odd”).^[5][2] In roulette it means an odd number, or the odd numbers taken together, from 1823;^[5][2] the adjective "not forming one of a pair" is recorded from 1815.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins