misdemeanor

Etymology

It is formed from English mis- (“wrong”) + demeanor (“conduct”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} so that it means literally bad conduct.^[8] The second part was demenure (“conduct, management”) in Middle English,^[2] from demenen (“to handle, manage, conduct”), from Old French demener (“to guide, conduct”), which is formed from de- and mener (“to lead”), from Latin minor (“to threaten”), in Late Latin "to drive animals".^[2] Etymonline notes that the verb misdemean, to behave badly, is recorded only from the 1560s, too late to be the source.^[2] Johnson derived the noun from the verb demean with the prefix.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ill behaviour, misconduct: late 15th century.^[2][5] Barnhart dates the word to 1487;^[3][4] Wordorigins finds it that year in the gerund misdemenyng, in a petition to Henry VII about a man who had supported his enemies, and the form mysdemeanours in a statute of 1503–04.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Both the general and the legal sense are recorded from the late 15th century:^[5] ill conduct or a misdeed, and an indictable offence less grave than a felony.^[2][5] Wordorigins says a misdemeanour was first an offence punished by forfeiture of property rather than imprisonment, and later one punished by a shorter imprisonment than a felony.^[8] Johnson (1755) defined it as "offence; ill behaviour; something less than an atrocious crime".^[9] In 1533 the word also meant a person guilty of such an offence,^[10] and since the early 19th century it has also meant a person imprisoned for one, now misdemeanant.^[5][10] British law abolished the distinction between felonies and misdemeanours in 1967; the United States keeps it.^[8][11] High misdemeanor is now archaic except in the impeachment phrase high crimes and misdemeanors.^[8]

Timeline

• 1487 – first record, as the gerund misdemenyng.^[8][4]
• 1503–04 – mysdemeanours, in a statute of Henry VII.^[8]
• 1533 – a person guilty of a misdemeanour (obsolete).^[10]
• 1755 – Johnson: offence, ill behaviour.^[9]
• 1812 – a person imprisoned for a misdemeanour.^[10][5]
• 1967 – the distinction from felony abolished in British law.^[8][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) A crime less serious than a felony, in the United States usually punished by a fine or a short term in a local jail rather than a state prison: Shoplifting a pair of socks is usually a misdemeanor.^[6][12][11]
2. (law) In England and Wales until 1967, an offence regarded as less grave than a felony and tried differently.^[11][8]
3. A minor wrongdoing; a misdeed.^[11][6][13]
4. (archaic) Bad conduct; misbehaviour.^[6][5]

Word family

• misdemeanant

Related words

• demeanor
• demean
• misdemean
• felony

Usage notes

The British spelling is misdemeanour.^[6][7]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wilton, Dave, Wordorigins.org, wordorigins.org, p. "misdemeanor / high misdemeanor", 15 December 2025
9. ^ 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.
10. ^ a b c d Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West
13. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin