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misshapen

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Etymology and origin of the English word misshapen

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1400 before 1400, Cursor Mundi More words from the 14th century
Ultimate origin
Middle English mis-,shāpen

Pronunciation

  • /mɪsˈʃeɪ.pən/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English misshāpen, also mischapen and misshapend,[2][3] formed from Middle English mis- + shāpen (“shaped”),[3][4][5][6] the old strong past participle of shape.[7][4][3] Old English already had earmsceapen (“wretched”).[4] Etymonline suggests that the verb misshape, from the 1520s, may be a back-formation.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Having a bad, ugly or wrong shape: before 1400, in the Cursor Mundi;[4] Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century,[7] and Dictionary.com to 1350–1400.[8]

Semantic evolution

Almost from the start the word was also used morally: about 1400, in Cleanness, it meant immoral or sinful,[4][2] and in Middle English it could also mean transformed into a beast or crippled.[2][7] The moral sense later faded into the general one of something badly formed or distorted, of ideas or systems as well as bodies.[4][3] A verb misshapen, used only in the past participle, appears about 1450 in the Alphabet of Tales,[4][2] and a rare sense "formless", with reference to Genesis, in 1640.[4]

Timeline

  • before 1400 – badly or wrongly shaped.[4][7]
  • c. 1400 – figuratively, immoral, sinful; later, distorted, perverted.[4][2]
  • c. 1450 – a verb misshapen, in the past participle.[4][2]
  • 1640 – formless (obsolete).[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Having an ugly, abnormal or deformed shape: a bag of misshapen potatoes.[9][3][4]
  2. Morally or intellectually distorted; badly formed or carried out.[3][4]
  3. (obsolete) Immoral or sinful.[4][2][5]

Word family

  • misshapenly
  • misshapenness
  • shape
  • shapen
  • misshape
  • shapely

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
  7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Misshapen.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/misshapen. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·