infirmity

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English infirmite, also enfermete,^[2][3] borrowed from Latin infirmitās (“weakness, feebleness”)^[4][5][6] and Old French enfermeté, later infirmité.^[2][7] The OED treats it as from Latin and only compares the French word, recording infirmité from the 15th century and enfermeté earlier.^[4] The Latin is a noun of quality from infirmus (“weak, frail”),^[4][7] the source of infirm, itself from in- (“not”) and firmus (“strong, stable”),^[7][4] which Etymonline traces to Proto-Indo-European *dher- (“to hold firmly, support”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A disease or sickness, in the Wycliffite Bible's early version of Jeremiah (before 1382),^[2] and a flaw in a person's character, in the same version of Hebrews (1382).^[4] Dictionary.com dates the word from 1325–75, and Etymonline to the late 14th century.^[8][7]

Semantic evolution

The Middle English word could mean a disease, a bout of sickness or an epidemic, and figuratively original sin.^[2] The general sense of weakness or lack of power, and the sense of moral frailty, are recorded by about 1384,^[4] and Chaucer uses the word twice.^[9] The physical frailty of the body, now mostly of old age, is recorded from about 1440.^[4] The OED marks the use for an illness as obsolete, leaving a failing in one of the faculties or senses,^[4][6] though Merriam-Webster Unabridged still lists disease.^[5] John Donne applied it to the weakness of an argument or title before 1631.^[4] John Gerard's Herball of 1597 has it for a harmful plant growth, a use last recorded in 1759.^[4] Johnson (1755) gave "weakness of sex, age, or temper" and "failing; weakness; fault", quoting Shakespeare's "A friend should bear a friend's infirmities".^[10] Milton's "That last infirmity of noble mind", in Lycidas, refers to the desire for fame.^[7]

Timeline

• 1382 – a disease or sickness;^[2] a flaw of character.^[4]
• c. 1384 – weakness, lack of power; moral frailty.^[4]
• c. 1440 – physical frailty, as from disease or old age.^[4]
• 1597 – a harmful plant growth (last record 1759).^[4]
• before 1631 – lack of validity in an argument or title.^[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being infirm; bodily weakness or frailty, especially from old age.^[11][5][4]
2. A particular illness or weakness, especially a failing in one of the senses or faculties: the infirmities of his last years.^[5][4][6]
3. A flaw of character or weakness of will; a foible.^[11][5][4]
4. Lack of validity in an argument or title.^[4][6]
5. (obsolete, 1597–1759) A harmful plant growth.^[4][6]

Related words

• infirm
• 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. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins