indigestion

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English indigestioun,^[2] borrowed from Old French indigestion^[3][4][2][5] and directly borrowed from Late Latin indīgestiō,^[2][6][7][8] formed from in- (“not”) and dīgestiō (“arrangement, distribution; digestion”),^[4][6][3] the source of digestion.^[4][9] The OED dates the French word to the 13th century, after Hatzfeld and Darmesteter;^[3][4] the Anglo-Norman word is recorded from the second quarter of the 13th century.^[5] Klein derives the Late Latin noun from indīgestus (“undigested”).^[10] The Latin noun dīgestiō comes from the past participle stem of dīgerō (“to separate, divide, arrange”).^[4] Etymonline notes that Old English had unmeltung for the same complaint.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Incomplete digestion of food: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus, which renders Latin indigestionem.^[2] Barnhart dates the word to 1392,^[8] and the OED's first quotation is from the 1495 printed edition of the same translation.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The Middle English Dictionary already records the word for illness caused by poor digestion, for an attack of it, and in the phrase smoki indigestioun, a vapour thought to rise from undigested food.^[2] The countable use, a case or attack of indigestion, is recorded by the OED from 1714.^[3] From 1630 the word was also used figuratively for an undigested condition, a state of disorder or of not being brought to order or maturity,^[3] a sense the Shorter Oxford calls rare.^[11] Johnson (1755) defined it as the state of food not digested, and in 1773 as a disorder of the stomach.^[12] Merriam-Webster also records a figurative use for difficulty in taking in something other than food.^[9]

Timeline

• before 1398 – incomplete digestion of food; an illness or attack caused by it.^[2]
• 1630 – an undigested or disordered condition.^[3]
• 1714 – a case or attack of indigestion.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Difficulty in digesting food, with pain or discomfort in the upper abdomen, heartburn or belching; dyspepsia: Rich food at midnight gave him indigestion.^[13][9][11]
2. A case or attack of this.^[9][3][11]
3. Difficulty in taking in or assimilating something other than food.^[9]
4. (rare) An undigested condition; disorder or imperfection.^[3][11]

Related words

• digestion
• digest
• indigestible

References

1. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins