misery

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹi/; /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹɪ/ (UK)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English miserie, borrowed from Old French misere (“misfortune, distress”),^[2][3][4] from Latin miseria (“wretchedness”),^[2][3] from miser (“wretched, pitiable”) (see miser).^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A state of external unhappiness or affliction: about 1374 in the OED, the late 14th century in Etymonline.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

A miserable condition or a cause of misery is from 1509,^[6] and great sorrow or distress of mind from the 1530s.^[2][6] It meant miserliness from 1531 and a mean condition from 1607, both obsolete.^[6] Bodily pain is a dialectal sense from 1825,^[6] and in Britain a misery is informally a habitually gloomy person.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – external unhappiness.^[6]
• 1509 – a cause of misery.^[6]
• 1531 – miserliness (obsolete).^[6]
• 1535 – mental distress.^[6]
• 1825 – bodily pain (dialect).^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Great unhappiness or suffering; wretchedness.
2. A cause of suffering.
3. Squalid conditions; extreme poverty.
4. (British, informal) A person who is always gloomy or complaining.
5. (dialect) A pain or ailment.

Word family

• misery index

Related words

• commiserate
• miser
• miserable
• miserly

Usage notes

Misery for bodily pain, a continual aching, was used in Shetland, Lancashire and the eastern counties, and in American dialect.^[8][6]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ 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)