Etymologically
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miscarriage

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 22:51. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈmɪskaɹɪd͡ʒ/[1]
  • US: /ˈmɪs.kæɹ.əd͡ʒ/, /ˈmɪs.kɛɹ.əd͡ʒ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English mis- + carriage,[2][3][4][5] or, as the Shorter Oxford and Etymonline take it, from English miscarry + -age.[6][7] The verb miscarry meant to go wrong or come to harm, and Etymonline explains the medical sense from the idea of failing to reach the intended result.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

An instance of misconduct; a misdeed: 1579, in a letter of W. Allen.[2][3] Etymonline dates the sense "mistake, error, a going wrong" to the 1580s.[7]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant misbehaviour or a misdeed, a sense that lasted into the 18th and early 19th centuries.[2][6] From 1590, in Spenser, it meant a failure, blunder or mistake; from 1648 it also meant a failure of a court to do justice, now miscarriage of justice;[2][7] Etymonline dates the full phrase to 1875.[7] Johnson (1755) gave "failure; ill conduct" as its first sense.[5] In the 17th century it also named the failure of a letter or goods to reach their destination, a sense Collins still records as British.[2][8] The medical sense, the spontaneous loss of a fetus before it can live, is recorded from 1615, in Crooke's anatomy;[2] Etymonline dates it from the 1660s.[7] It is now the main meaning.[8][3] In Scots and Yorkshire dialect the word also meant a misfortune.[9]

Timeline

  • 1579 – a misdeed; misconduct (now obsolete).[2][3]
  • 1590 – a failure, blunder or mistake.[2]
  • 1606 – the failure of a letter to reach its destination.[2]
  • 1615 – the spontaneous expulsion of a fetus from the womb.[2] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1660s.[7]
  • 1648 – a failure of justice, later miscarriage of justice.[2]
  • 1652 – mismanagement of a business or enterprise.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The spontaneous loss of a fetus from the womb before it is able to survive: She had a miscarriage early in the pregnancy.[8][3][2]
  2. miscarriage of justice: a failure of a court or legal system to reach a just result, especially the conviction of an innocent person.[8][3][2]
  3. A failure or mistake; mismanagement.[3][8][2]
  4. (British) The failure of goods or a letter to reach their destination.[8][2]
  5. (obsolete, 1579–1829) Misconduct, or a misdeed.[2][6][5]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  6. ^ a b c 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 f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ 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)