miserable

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹəbəl/^[1]

Etymology

It is late Middle English, borrowed from Old French miserable and directly from Latin miserābilis, pitiable, lamentable,^[2][3] from miserārī, to pity, lament, from miser, wretched (see miser),^[2][3][4] with the suffix -able.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Very unhappy, wretched: about 1412 in Barnhart; full of misery, causing wretchedness, of conditions, in the early 15th century in Etymonline.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Of persons, existing in a state of want or suffering, it is from the 1520s (1526 in the OED),^[3][5] and mentally full of misery, unhappy in feeling, by the 1590s (1591).^[3][5] Pitiably unworthy or meagre, contemptible, is from 1500–20,^[5] and pitiable or deplorable from 1552.^[5] The weakened sense, causing great discomfort, is from 1850.^[5] The noun, an unhappy creature, is from the 1530s, reinforced later by the French cognate, as in Hugo's Les Misérables.^[3] The related misery is older, from about 1375 in Chaucer.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1412 – wretched.^[2]
• 1500–20 – contemptible.^[5]
• 1526 – in a state of misery.^[5]
• 1530s – the noun.^[3]
• 1591 – unhappy in feeling.^[5]
• 1850 – causing discomfort.^[5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Very unhappy or uncomfortable; wretched.
2. Causing great discomfort or distress: a miserable life.
3. Contemptible or shameful.
4. Wretchedly inadequate or of poor quality.
5. (Scotland, Australia, New Zealand) Mean or stingy.

Word family

• miserableness
• miserably
• immiseration

Related words

• miser
• misery
• commiserate
• misère

Usage notes

The sense mean or miserly is also found in English dialects of Lancashire, Worcestershire, Pembrokeshire and the south.^[6]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ 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)