incorrigible

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English incorrigible,^[2] borrowed from Old French incorrigible^{[3][4][5][6][7]} or directly borrowed from Latin incorrigibilis (“not to be corrected”),^{[3][4][5][6][8]} from in- (“not”) and *corrigibilis,^[3][4] from corrigō (“to correct”),^[4][3][9] which is formed from the intensive com- and regō (“to lead straight, rule”).^[4] The word is recorded in Anglo-Norman from 1328–29^[10] and in French from 1334,^[3] and the Latin adjective occurs in Seneca,^[3] although Merriam-Webster Unabridged calls it Late Latin.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Beyond correction, of malice in Rolle's Psalter: "Venome of snakis, that is, incorygibile malice", dated before 1340 by the OED and about 1340 by the MED, which reads it in a much later manuscript.^[3][2] Etymonline agrees on the mid 14th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The MED and Etymonline show the word first as a general term for what cannot be remedied: incurable of a disease, extravagant of spending, implacable of malice.^[2][4] Its use of people beyond discipline is recorded from the 15th century, in Lydgate and Capgrave,^[2] and Etymonline dates it to the mid 15th century,^[4] though the OED, which has not fully revised this entry, puts persons and habits together from before 1340.^[3] Johnson (1755) stressed depravity, "bad beyond correction", and also gave "erroneous beyond hope of instruction".^[11] The use for a faulty thing or a disease that cannot be put right faded by 1804.^[3][9] In the opposite direction, incorrigible could also mean not open to correction because it is already so good (1611),^[3] and in philosophy it is used of a belief that cannot be wrong if honestly held.^[12][9][3] The noun dates from 1746.^[3][4] In modern use it often describes a lasting habit rather than wickedness,^[12][8] and in Merriam-Webster Unabridged also a delinquent child.^[9]

Timeline

• before 1340 – of persons, habits or malice, beyond correction.^[3][2]
• 1541 – of something faulty, or a disease, that cannot be put right (obsolete after 1804).^[3]
• 1611 – not open to correction; too good to improve.^[3]
• 1746 – noun, an incorrigible person.^[3][4]
• 1936 – noun, something not open to verification.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Too bad or too set in one's ways to be corrected or reformed: an incorrigible cheat.^{[8][12][9][3]}
2. Firmly rooted; ineradicable: his incorrigible untidiness.^[8][12]
3. Hard or impossible to control; of a child, persistently badly behaved or delinquent.^[8][9]
4. (philosophy) Of a belief, that cannot be mistaken if honestly held; not open to correction.^[12][9][3]
5. (obsolete, 1541–1804) Of a fault or disease, incurable, beyond remedy.^[3][9][2]

Noun

1. An incorrigible person or thing.^{[8][9][3][12]}

Word family

• incorrigibility
• incorrigibly
• incorrigibleness

Related words

• incorrect
• corrigible
• correct

References

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