interlude

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English enterlude,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Medieval Latin interlūdium,^{[6][3][7][8][9]} formed from inter- (“between”) and lūdus (“play”),^[6][2][8][5] the source of ludicrous.^[3][10] The OED suggests that the word may have followed an Anglo-Norman *entrelude,^[6] and the American Heritage Dictionary, Etymonline and Stratmann take it through Old French entrelude.^[2][10][11] The spelling interlude, found from 1375 in Scots, was remodelled after the Latin prefix.^[5][3][4] The Latin noun is related to lūdō (“to play”), from the root that the American Heritage Dictionary gives as Proto-Indo-European *leid- (“to play”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A short, usually humorous dramatic piece played between the parts of a long mystery or morality play: 1303, in Robert Mannyng's Handlyng Synne, as enterlude.^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

The long medieval mystery plays could last all day, and short, often comic pieces were played between their parts for variety; these were the first interludes.^[12][10] Etymonline, quoting the Century Dictionary, describes them as generally short and coarse farces drawn from real life.^[10] The name then passed to a kind of comedy or farce of the 16th century and to popular stage plays of the 17th and 18th,^[2][10][8] and Johnson (1755) defined it as something played at the intervals of a festivity, a farce.^[13] From 1660 it meant the interval between the acts of a play, or what filled it,^[6][8][12] and since 1751, first in Johnson's Rambler, any intervening period, space or event of a different kind.^[6][5][10] In music it has named, since 1838, an instrumental piece played between the verses of a hymn or the parts of a church service.^[6][5]

Timeline

• 1303 – a short comic play between the parts of a mystery play (enterlude).^[6][5]
• 1375 – the spelling interlude, in Scots.^[5]
• 1608 – verb, to act in a play (now obsolete).^[6]
• 1660 – the interval between the acts of a play, or the entertainment that fills it.^[6]
• 1751 – any intervening period or event.^[6][5]
• 1838 – a piece of music played between the verses of a hymn or parts of a service.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An intervening period, episode or event, often one of a different kind from what comes before and after: a brief sunny interlude in a week of rain.^[2][3][6]
2. An entertainment performed between the acts of a play; an intermission.^[2][3][6]
3. A short piece of music played between the parts of a longer composition, a drama or a religious service.^[2][6]
4. A short farcical piece performed between the parts of a medieval mystery or morality play, or a 16th-century comedy that grew out of it.^[2][3][6]

Verb

1. To come between as an interlude.^[3][6]

Word family

• interludial

Related words

• ludicrous
• prelude
• postlude
• allude
• collude
• delude
• elude
• illusion

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Stratmann, Francis Henry (1891), A Middle-English Dictionary, revised by Henry Bradley, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.