Etymologically
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misery

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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

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)