infirm

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English infirme,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Latin īnfirmus (“weak, frail, feeble”),^{[6][7][8][5][4]} which the MED, the AHD and Barnhart also allow through Old French infirme,^[2][3][9] although the OED dates French infirme only to the 16th and 17th centuries, with earlier enferme.^[6] The Latin adjective is from in- (“not”) and firmus (“strong, stable”),^{[6][7][8][10]} from a suffixed form of Proto-Indo-European *dher- (“to hold firmly, support”).^[7][3] The verb is inherited from Middle English infirmen,^[11] borrowed from Latin īnfirmō (“to weaken, invalidate”), from the Latin adjective.^[6][12][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of things, not firm or strong, weak: about 1374 in Chaucer's translation of Boethius, of the sun's "infirme light".^[6][2][9] Barnhart dates the same text to about 1380,^[9] and Etymonline gives the late 14th century.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is of weak things; the word was transferred to arguments and titles from 1557,^[6] both uses are now rare.^[6][12] Of the mind and will, "not firm, irresolute", it is recorded from 1526.^[6][13] The sense now usual, of people weak in body, especially through age, is dated to about 1425 by Barnhart, where the MED has "feeble persons" in a Bible text,^[9][2] but to 1608, in King Lear, by the OED,^[6] and to about 1600 by Etymonline.^[7] Johnson (1755) gave this sense first, with Shakespeare's "A poor, infirm, weak, and despis'd old man".^[14] In Gloucestershire dialect the word could mean silly or foolish.^[15] The verb has had three senses, all now rare or obsolete: to weaken belief or an argument, from about 1449,^[6][12] to weaken physically, from before 1555,^[6][12] and to invalidate a law or custom, from 1558.^[6][12]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – of things, not firm or strong, weak.^[6][2]
• c. 1449 – verb, to weaken a belief or argument (obsolete by 1676).^[6]
• 1526 – of people or the mind, irresolute, not firm in purpose.^[6]
• before 1555 – verb, to make physically frail (obsolete by 1650).^[6]
• 1557 – of arguments and titles, weak, invalid.^[6]
• 1558 – verb, to invalidate a law or custom.^[6]
• 1608 – of people, physically weak, especially through age.^[6][7]
• before 1616 – of parts of the body.^[6]
• 1711 – noun, an invalid (obsolete).^[6][7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not physically strong, especially through old age; feeble: She looked after her elderly and infirm father.^[16][11][6]
2. the infirm: people who are weak in this way, as a group.^[16][11]
3. Weak in mind or will; irresolute: infirm of purpose.^[16][11][6]
4. Not solid, stable or secure: an infirm bridge.^[16][11][6]
5. (law) Of a claim, title or custom: lacking legal force; invalid.^[16][6]

Verb

1. (rare) To invalidate a law, custom or piece of evidence; to call in question.^[6][12][11]
2. (obsolete, 1449–1676) To weaken a belief or an argument; to make doubtful.^[6][12]
3. (obsolete, 1555–1650) To make physically frail; to weaken.^[6][12][11]

Word family

• infirmly
• infirmness
• infirmity

Related words

• infirmary
• firm
• confirm
• affirm

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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ 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)
16. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins