irreverence

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English irreverence, also inreverence,^[2] borrowed from Old French irreverence and directly borrowed from Latin irreverentia (“want of reverence, disrespect”),^[3][4][2] from irreverēns (“disrespectful, irreverent”), formed from in- (“not”) and reverēns, the present participle of revereor (“to stand in awe of”),^[3][4] which is from re- and vereor (“to stand in awe of, fear, respect”).^[3] The OED, Merriam-Webster Unabridged, the Shorter Oxford and Klein name only the Latin,^[5][6][7][8] and the OED merely compares French inrévérence of the 13th century and irrévérence of the 14th.^[5] Etymonline dates the Old French word to the 13th century,^[3] and Anglo-Norman irreverence is recorded from the second quarter of that century.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Disrespect towards a person or thing held sacred: about 1340 in R. Rolle, according to the OED,^[5] and mid-14th century in Etymonline.^[3] Barnhart and the Middle English Dictionary date the same Rolle text to before 1349, the latter quoting it from a manuscript of about 1440: it sounes in irreu[er]ence of Ihesu Cryste.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word belongs chiefly to religious writing, for disrespect to God, Christ and the saints.^[2] Chaucer's Parson's Tale lists it among the sins and takes it further, to people who fail to give honour where it is due while expecting it themselves: Irreuerence is whan men do nat honour there as hem oghte to doon and waiten to be reuerenced.^[2] Johnson (1755) puts it simply as want of reverence, veneration or respect.^[10] The word also came to mean a single irreverent act or remark, from 1715 in the OED, in Pope's preface to the Iliad,^[5] and, in the other direction, the condition of receiving no reverence, from 1702 in Clarendon.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1340 – absence or violation of reverence.^[5]
• 1702 – the condition of not being reverenced; dishonour.^[5]
• 1715 – an irreverent act or utterance.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Lack of due respect, especially towards what is held sacred; disrespect.^[11][6][5]
2. A disrespectful act or remark.^[11][6][5]
3. The condition of not being revered; dishonour or neglect.^[6][5]

Related words

• irreverent
• reverence
• revere
• reverend

References

1. ^ 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 d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
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