madman

Etymology

It is formed from Middle English mad + man,^[2][3][4] at first written separately, as madd man.^[2][5][4] The one-word form is recorded from about 1400 and became the usual one in the 16th century.^[3] Mad goes back to the Old English participle gemǣdde.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A man who is insane: about 1330, in a religious lyric.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It was also used more loosely, often as an exaggeration, of a man who acts wildly, foolishly or dangerously.^[2][5] Johnson (1755) defined it as a man deprived of his understanding, and quoted L'Estrange: "He that eagerly pursues any thing, is no better than a madman."^[7] The feminine madwoman is recorded by the 1620s.^[3] Brewer listed nicknames such as Macedonia's madman for Alexander the Great and the Madman of the North for Charles XII of Sweden, from Pope's Essay on Man.^[8] The medical sense is now considered offensive.^[2][9] In British drug slang a madman is a pill of pure MDMA (ecstasy), a play on the letters MaDMAn.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1330 – a man who is insane, written as two words.^[2][3]
• c. 1400 – written as one word.^[3]
• 1620s – the feminine madwoman.^[3]
• 2002 – British slang, a pill of pure MDMA.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A man who behaves wildly, recklessly or dangerously: He drove through the storm like a madman.^[9][5][2]
2. (offensive) A man with a severe mental illness; a lunatic.^[9][2][5]

Related words

• madwoman
• madness

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ 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)
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ Brewer, E. Cobham (1898), Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, new ed., London: Cassell
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge