inflict

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin īnflīctus, the past participle of īnflīgō (“to strike or dash against; to inflict”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} formed from in- (“in, on, against”) and flīgō (“to strike, dash”).^{[2][8][4][9][10]} Barnhart suggests that the verb may have grown out of the adjective inflict, inflicted, or be a back-formation from infliction, recorded from 1534.^[4] Klein compares the Latin verb with Ancient Greek φλίβω (phlíbō, “to press, crush”),^[6] and Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *bhlig- (“to strike”).^[2] The same Latin verb is the base of afflict, conflict and profligate.^[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To afflict, assail or trouble a person with something painful or unpleasant: 1566, in William Painter's Palace of Pleasure.^[3][5][10] Etymonline also dates the sense "assail, trouble" to the 1560s.^[2] An adjective inflict, inflicted, had appeared before 1530.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The modern sense, to lay on a blow or wound or impose something that has to be suffered, appears in 1594, in Shakespeare's Lucrece,^[3][2] and it soon displaced the older construction with the person as object, which the OED calls rare and now only humorous.^[3][10] Johnson (1755) defined the verb as "to put in act or impose as a punishment", quoting Shakespeare and the Bible.^[11] From 1809, in Byron, it was also used, often jokingly, of imposing something unwelcome, such as one's company or one's opinions.^[3][10]

Timeline

• before 1530 – adjective inflict, inflicted (now obsolete).^[3] Barnhart dates it to 1526.^[4]
• 1534 – the noun infliction, in Thomas More.^[4]
• 1566 – to afflict or trouble a person with something painful.^[3][5]
• 1594 – to lay on a blow or wound; to impose a penalty or suffering.^[3][2]
• 1809 – to impose something unwelcome, often humorously.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cause something painful, harmful or damaging to be suffered: The hailstorm inflicted heavy damage on the orchards.^{[8][5][12][3]}
2. To deal out a blow, wound or punishment.^{[12][8][5][3]}
3. To force something or someone unwelcome on others, often humorously: He inflicted his holiday photos on the whole office.^{[8][3][10][12]}
4. (rare) To afflict or trouble someone with something.^{[3][10][12][5]}

Word family

• inflicter
• inflictive
• inflictable
• self-inflicted
• uninflicted
• infliction

Related words

• afflict
• conflict
• profligate

Usage notes

Etymonline draws the distinction between the two verbs: one inflicts trouble on someone, but afflicts someone with trouble.^[2]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ 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
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 Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins