impairment

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English empeirement, also emparement,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman empeirement, also empairement, recorded in Anglo-Norman from the 12th century.^[5][6] It is formed from empeirer, the source of the verb impair, with the suffix -ment.^[5][4][7] The verb is from Old French empeirier (“to make worse”),^[4][3][8] modern empirer,^[3][8] from Vulgar Latin *impēiōrō (“to make worse”),^[4][3][9][8] formed from in- and Late Latin pēiōrō (“to make worse”),^[4][3][8] from Latin pēior (“worse”).^[9] The spelling was remodelled on Latin in the 1610s.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Worsening, deterioration, damage: 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt.^[5][2][4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word meant worsening or injury, and Gower used it twice.^[2][10] Johnson (1755) defined it as "diminution; injury".^[11] The special sense of a physical or mental disability, or reduced function of a faculty or part of the body, is recorded from 1649,^[5] and in modern use the word often names such a condition, as in hearing or speech impairment.^[7][5]

Timeline

• 1340 – worsening, deterioration, damage, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt.^[5][2]
• 1610s – the Latinized spelling with im-.^[3]
• 1649 – a physical or mental disability or reduced function.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of impairing, or the state of being impaired; deterioration or weakening: the impairment of her judgment by fatigue.^[7][5]
2. A physical or mental disability or reduced function, especially of a particular sense or part of the body: a hearing impairment.^[7][5]

Word family

• nonimpairment
• preimpairment

Related words

• impair
• pejorative

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.