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Etymology and origin of the English word loon

Pronunciation

loon1 rascal, fool

Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1450 Life of Saint Cuthbert
Borrowed from
Dutch loen

Etymology

The word for a rascal is first recorded in northern Middle English and Scots as lowen, louen, later loun,[2][3][4][1] and its origin is uncertain.[5][2][3][6][7] It is perhaps borrowed from Dutch loen (“clumsy or unintelligent person”),[5][2] although the Dutch word is recorded only from 1588, in Kiliaan's dictionary, and is itself of unknown origin;[5] Klein and Partridge compare Middle Dutch loen (“stupid person”),[8][9] and Etymonline allows Middle Low German as well.[2] Dictionary.com suggests instead Old Norse lúinn (“worn, tired”).[10] The OED notes that in the 15th century the word rhymed with northern words such as chenoun (“canon”),[5] and Onions that the northern vowel was kept when the word spread south.[11] The current sense "a foolish or crazy person" (1823) is explained in several ways: Etymonline puts it down to the influence of loony,[2] the OED takes it either as a shortening of lunatic or as a use of the bird's name through the phrase “crazy as a loon”,[5] and the Oxford Dictionary of English derives it from the bird, perhaps influenced by loony.[12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

A dishonest or lawless person, a rogue or idler, used as a term of abuse: about 1450, in the northern Life of Saint Cuthbert.[5] Barnhart and Etymonline also date the form lowen, a rascal or worthless person, to the mid-15th century.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

From the early 16th century, especially in Scots, a loon was a man of low birth or rank, often set against a lord or laird (Dunbar, 1507).[5][7] It meant simply a man or fellow from 1568, and then a boy or lad (1602), a sense still current in north-eastern Scotland.[5][14][7] In the same period it was used of a promiscuous person, especially a woman, a sense that died out in the early 19th century.[5][4] Johnson (1755) defined the word as a sorry fellow or rascal, quoting Macbeth's "Thou cream-fac'd loon!", and added that it was then used only in Scotland.[15] Weekley thought the later senses were probably influenced by the bird's name,[16] and the meaning "foolish or crazy person" appears in 1823, in James Fenimore Cooper's The Pilot.[5] The Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins dates this sense to the late 19th century.[13] Wright's dialect dictionary records the older senses, rascal, vagabond and idle or stupid fellow, across Scotland, Ireland and northern England.[17]

Timeline

  • c. 1450 – a rogue, rascal or idler, as a term of abuse.[5]
  • 1507 – a man of low birth or rank, in Dunbar.[5]
  • 1568 – a man, a fellow; also a promiscuous person, especially a woman (obsolete by 1828).[5]
  • before 1600 – a lout or boor.[5]
  • 1602 – a boy or lad.[5]
  • 1823 – a foolish, irrational or crazy person.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (informal) A foolish or crazy person: Only a loon would swim in the lake in January.[14][4][5]
  2. (chiefly Scottish) A boy or lad.[14][4][5]
  3. (archaic) A worthless person; a rogue, idler or lout.[4][5][6]
  4. (archaic) A man of low rank or station.[14][4][5]
  5. (obsolete, 1568–1828) A promiscuous woman; a mistress or harlot.[5][4]

loon2 diving bird

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1634 William Wood, New England's Prospect
From
Old Norse lómr
Ultimate origin
Old Norse lómr

Etymology

The word for the diving bird is of Scandinavian origin, from Old Norse lómr (“loon”) or a related form;[4][3][14][7] compare Norwegian lom.[4][3][2] Etymonline, Hoad and the Oxford Dictionary of English take it as an alteration of loom, a name for the guillemot and the diver in Shetland dialect, itself from the Old Norse word;[2][7][12] the OED leaves open whether it is a variant of loom, which is recorded only later, or a separate borrowing from a Scandinavian language.[5] The Shorter Oxford and Weekley think the form was assimilated to the word for a rascal.[6][16] Partridge, after Holthausen, takes the Old Norse name as imitative of the bird's cry,[9] and Merriam-Webster and Barnhart connect it with lament.[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A flightless seabird of New England, perhaps the great auk: 1634, in William Wood's New England's Prospect.[5][3] Merriam-Webster also dates the word to 1634.[4]

Semantic evolution

Soon after Wood's use the name settled on the large diving birds of the genus Gavia (1658, in Sir Thomas Browne),[5] and in the late 17th century it was also given to the great crested grebe and the little grebe.[5] It is now chiefly North American; in Britain the same birds are called divers.[5][14] Wright's dialect dictionary records it for the great northern diver in Ireland and several English counties.[17] The bird's wild cry and its behaviour gave the phrase crazy as a loon, recorded in the OED from 1812 (in Barnhart, 1845),[5][3] and drunk as a loon followed in 1827.[5] In the Second World War the name was given to an American guided missile.[5]

Timeline

  • 1634 – a seabird of New England, perhaps the great auk.[5][3]
  • 1658 – a diving bird of the genus Gavia.[5]
  • before 1668 – the great crested grebe.[5]
  • 1678 – the little grebe or dabchick.[5]
  • 1812 – crazy as a loon.[5] Barnhart dates the phrase to 1845.[3]
  • 1827 – drunk as a loon.[5]
  • 1947 – an early American guided missile.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Any of several large fish-eating diving birds of the genus Gavia of northern waters, with a sharp bill and a loud wailing cry; in Britain called a diver.[4][14][5]
  2. (rare) A grebe.[4][5]
  3. crazy as a loon: very foolish or irrational.[5]

Word family

  • loonie

Usage notes

The British slang verb loon, to fool about or to enjoy oneself, especially dancing to pop music (1919, and in the youth sense 1965), and loons or loon pants, flared trousers (1971), are formed in the OED from loony and the bird's name;[5] the Shorter Oxford calls the verb of unknown origin.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b 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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  11. ^ Onions, C. T., ed. (1966), The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  16. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  17. ^ a b 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)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Loon.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/loon. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

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