Etymologically
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lurid

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈl(j)ʊə.ɹɪd/ (UK); /ˈlʊɹɪd/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin lūridus (“pale yellow, sallow, ghastly”),[2][3][4][5][6] from lūror “paleness”,[2] a word of uncertain origin.[3][4] Etymonline suggests a link with Greek khlōros “greenish-yellow” or Latin lividus.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pale and dismal in colour; wan and sallow (1656).[7][4] Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1603.[5]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the word has more to do with a mixture of light and gloom than with any colour.[4] The sense “shining with a red glow amid darkness” is from 1727,[7][4] and a scientific sense, “dingy yellowish brown”, from 1767.[7][4] The figurative sense of terrible, ominous or sensational, as in lurid details, appeared in 1850.[7][3][4]

Timeline

  • 1656 – pale and ghastly.[7][4]
  • 1727 – glowing red amid darkness.[7][4]
  • 1767 – dingy yellowish brown, in science.[7][4]
  • 1850 – terrible, sensational.[7][3][4]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Shocking and sensational, especially in its details.
  2. Causing horror; gruesome.
  3. Glowing with a fiery, unnatural red, as through smoke or haze.
  4. Pale and sallow; wan.

Word family

  • luridly
  • luridness

Usage notes

Random House gives dismal, pale and murky as synonyms of the sense “wan”.[6]

References

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