industrious

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French industrieux (“ingenious, skilful”),^[2][3][4][5] and directly borrowed from Late Latin industriōsus (“very active, diligent”),^[2][4][5][6] recorded from the 6th century,^[2] from Latin industria (“diligence, activity”) and -ōsus.^[2][3] The Latin noun is the feminine of industrius (“diligent, active”) used as a noun,^[7][4][8] from Old Latin indostruus,^[9][4][3] formed from indu (“in, within”) and an element related to struō (“to build, arrange”).^[9][4][3] Dictionary.com is more cautious, calling this analysis only possible and presuming a first sense of devising inwardly or secretly.^[10] Etymonline traces the two parts to Proto-Indo-European *endo- and Proto-Indo-European *stere- (“to spread”).^[4] Compare Catalan industriós (1344), Spanish industrioso (late 14th century) and Italian industrioso (14th century).^[2] Its noun is industry.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Showing intelligent or skilful work, ingenious: about 1487, in Skelton's translation of Diodorus Siculus,^[2] matching Merriam-Webster Unabridged's 15th century and the late 15th century of the Oxford Dictionary of English.^[3][6] Etymonline's first date is the 1550s, with the sense "marked by energy and effort".^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word began with the French sense of skill and ingenuity, which lasted until 1731.^[2] Its later senses were influenced by industry.^[2] From 1531, in Elyot's Boke Named the Gouernour, it meant showing application and effort.^[2] From 1591, in Spenser's Muiopotmos, it meant steadily devoted to work, the main sense now.^[2][4] A further sense, done on purpose, is recorded from before 1628;^[2] Johnson (1755) gives "diligent; laborious; assiduous", opposed to slothful, and "designed; done for the purpose".^[11] French industrieux was also used from 1765 for "of or relating to an industry", and the English word had this sense from 1825 to 1873,^[2] but industrial took over this use, leaving industrious with the older Latin sense.^[4] In Northern Ireland the word was also used as a noun, an industrious person.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1487 – skilful, clever, ingenious (obsolete by 1731).^[2]
• 1531 – showing application or effort; zealous, painstaking.^[2]
• 1591 – diligent, hard-working, of a person.^[2][4]
• before 1628 – intentional, deliberate.^[2]
• 1825 – of or relating to an industry; industrial (until 1873).^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Working steadily and hard; diligent: an industrious apprentice who never missed a day.^[13][3][2]
2. Keenly active in a particular matter; zealous.^[3][2][5]
3. Constantly busy.^[3]
4. (rare) Intentional, deliberate.^[2][11]
5. (obsolete, c. 1487–1731) Skilful, clever, ingenious.^[2][3][13]
6. (obsolete, 1825–1873) Industrial.^[2][5]

Word family

• industriously
• industriousness
• unindustrious

Related words

• industrial
• industry
• structure
• construct
• destroy
• indigenous

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins