Etymologically
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innocent

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈɪn.ə.sənt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English innocent, borrowed from Old French innocent and directly from Latin innocēns (“not guilty, harmless”),[2][3][4] from in- “not” and nocēns, present participle of nocēre “to harm”,[2][3][5] from Proto-Indo-European *nek- (“death”).[2] It is related to noxious, innocuous, nuisance and obnoxious.[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Doing no evil, free from sin or guilt: before 1340 in the OED, 1340 in the Ayenbite of Inwyt in Barnhart.[6][3] The noun, a person free from sin, especially a young child, is from about 1200 in Etymonline.[2]

Semantic evolution

Not guilty of a particular crime is from 1382 in the OED, the late 14th century in Etymonline,[6][2] and childlike, simple or artless also from 1382 (about 1385 in Chaucer's Troilus in Barnhart).[6][3] Lacking intelligence, half-witted, is from 1548, a sense kept in dialect.[6][7] Of things, harmless, is from 1662.[6][8] The humorous “free from, devoid of”, as in innocent of grammar, is from 1706.[6][2] The Holy Innocents, the children killed by Herod, are from the early 14th century.[2] Indo-European words for “innocent” are generally negative forms of the word for “guilty”.[2]

Timeline

  • a. 1340 – free from sin.[6]
  • 1382 – not guilty of a crime.[6]
  • 1382 – naive.[6]
  • 1548 – half-witted.[6]
  • 1662 – harmless.[6]
  • 1706 – devoid of.[6][2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Not guilty of a crime.
  2. Having no experience of evil; naive.
  3. Not meant to cause harm: an innocent remark.
  4. Suffering harm without being involved: innocent bystanders.
  5. Free from sin.

Noun

  1. A person, especially a child, who is free from evil.
  2. A simple or inexperienced person.

Word family

  • innocently
  • uninnocent
  • innocence
  • innocuous
  • noxious
  • nuisance
  • obnoxious

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ 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)
  8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press