importune

Etymology

The adjective is inherited from Middle English importune,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman importun (“troublesome, pressing”) and Middle French importun,^[4][5][6] and directly borrowed from Latin importūnus (“unfavourable, unsuitable, troublesome”).^[4][2][5] The verb is borrowed from Middle French importuner (“to annoy with requests”) and medieval Latin importūnor (“to harass, pester”), itself from the Latin adjective.^{[4][5][7][8][3]} Barnhart and Etymonline also allow that the verb may be a back-formation from importunity.^[9][10] Most dictionaries analyse the Latin adjective as in- (“not”) and portus (“harbour”), literally "having no harbour", hence "hard to reach".^{[10][11][8][6]} The OED and the Shorter Oxford connect it with Portūnus, the protecting god of harbours, a name that was probably an adjective at first.^[4][5][12] The same element is in opportūnus (“fit, convenient”), the source of opportune.^[4][13][3] The American Heritage Dictionary refers portus to the root Proto-Indo-European *per-.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective, persistent or insistent: about 1406, in Hoccleve's La Male Regle, "I kepte nat to be seen inportune In my pursuyte".^[4][2] Barnhart dates the adjective to probably before 1400,^[9] and Etymonline to the early 15th century.^[10] The verb, to ask pressingly: 1530, in Palsgrave,^[4][9][3] though Etymonline gives the 1520s.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The Latin idea of something unfavourable or ill-timed survives in the early English adjective, which could mean troublesome (before 1425) and untimely (about 1425) as well as insistent.^[4][2] French had already moved from "troublesome" to "pressing" by the late 14th century.^[4] The verb took over the insistent meaning: to beg a person (1530), to beg for a thing (1567).^[4][5] From 1578 it could also mean simply to pester or trouble, a use that lasted until 1899 and became archaic.^[4][11] Spenser used it for "to signify, portend" (1590–98), apparently by association with import.^[4] A related use, to press or drive, lasted from 1598 to 1799.^[4] The modern sense, to approach a stranger for sex, especially as a prostitute, is recorded from 1827.^[4][3] The adjective has meanwhile become rare, and the noun, an importunate person, died out in 1813.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1406 – adjective, insistent, persistent.^[4][2]
• before 1425 – adjective, troublesome, irksome.^[4]
• c. 1425 – adjective, untimely, inappropriate.^[4]
• 1530 – verb, to ask a person pressingly.^[4][9]
• 1548 – intransitive, to make persistent requests.^[4]
• 1567 – to beg for a thing.^[4]
• 1578 – to pester, harass (obsolete after 1899).^[4]
• 1589 – noun, an overly persistent person (obsolete after 1813).^[4]
• 1590 – to signify, in Spenser (obsolete after 1598).^[4]
• 1827 – to approach a person for sex.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To press a person with repeated or troublesome requests: Reporters importuned the minister for a statement.^{[11][13][3][4]}
2. To beg for something persistently.^[13][4][5]
3. To make persistent requests or pleas (intransitive).^[11][3][4]
4. To approach someone for sex, especially as a prostitute; to solicit.^[3][4][5]
5. (obsolete, 1578–1899) To annoy, trouble or pester.^[4][11][13]
6. (obsolete, 1598–1799) To press, drive or urge on.^[4][13]

Adjective

1. Persistent in asking; importunate.^[3][4][5]
2. (rare) Troublesome, irksome.^[4][5]

Word family

• importunely
• importuner
• unimportuned

Related words

• importunity
• importunate
• opportune
• inopportune
• port

Usage notes

The OED notes that stress on the second syllable, shown by metre, was frequent in the 16th and 17th centuries,^[4] and Johnson (1755) says that it was anciently accented there.^[14] Merriam-Webster Unabridged and the OED still record forms with that stress.^[3][4]

References

1. ^ a b 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 f g h i j 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 q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.