jejune

Pronunciation

• IPA: /d͡ʒəˈdʒuːn/, /d͡ʒiˈdʒuːn/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin iēiūnus (“fasting, hungry; meagre, barren”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} a word of obscure origin.^[4] De Vaan, cited by Etymonline, links it to a root meaning “to worship”, from the custom of making the first sacrifice of the day on an empty stomach.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Dull, flat, insipid (1615).^[7][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The literal Latin sense “fasting, hungry” was used briefly in English (before 1619) and is obsolete.^[7] From 1646 the word meant lacking nourishment or substance,^[7][5] as of land or food.^[7] The sense “puerile, childish, naive” dates from 1898;^[7] the OED suggests it may come from the mistaken belief that the word is related to Latin juvenis “young”.^[7]

Timeline

• 1615 – dull, insipid.^[7][3]
• before 1619 – fasting, hungry, now obsolete.^[7]
• 1646 – lacking nourishment.^[7][5]
• 1898 – childish, naive.^[7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Dull and lacking interest or significance; insipid.
2. Childish or immature; naive.
3. Lacking in nutritive value.

Word family

• jejunely
• jejuneness

Related words

• jejunum

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press