modesty

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French modestie and directly borrowed from Latin modestia (“moderation, sense of honour, correctness of conduct”),^[2][3][4][5] from modestus (“moderate, keeping due measure”),^[3][6][7] from modus (“measure, manner”),^[3] from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to take appropriate measures”).^[3] The French word is recorded in the sense "moderation" from about 1355, "lack of vanity" from 1553 and "decency, reserve" from the second half of the 16th century.^[2] The adjective modest, from modeste, is recorded from the 1560s.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Moderation, self-control, freedom from excess; and decorum, propriety of conduct: both in 1531, in Thomas Elyot's Boke Named The Gouernour.^[2][3] Elyot remarked that the word was not known in English and that people who knew no good Latin authors wrongly called this virtue discretion.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, moderation or mildness, notably of a ruler, lasted until the 19th century and is now obsolete or archaic.^[2][4][6] The sense of having a moderate opinion of oneself, unassuming reserve, appears in 1553, in T. Wilson's Arte of Rhetorique,^[2][3] and the sense of womanly propriety or purity in thought and manner from the 1560s.^[3] For a time the word could also mean humility before God (1557–1650) and deferential feeling (1616–63).^[2][4] Johnson (1755) gave it as "not arrogance; not presumptuousness", "not impudence" and "moderation; decency".^[5] From 1731 it was short for modesty piece,^[2][4] and since 1881 it has been used of a thing's modest size or appearance.^[2] A verb, to throw away through prudery, was used once by Richardson, in Clarissa (1748).^[2]

Timeline

• 1531 – moderation, self-control (obsolete by 1839), and decorum, propriety, in Elyot.^[2][3]
• 1553 – an unassuming nature, a moderate opinion of oneself.^[2][3]
• 1557 – humility before God (obsolete by 1650).^[2]
• 1560s – womanly propriety and purity of thought and manner.^[3]
• 1731 – short for modesty piece.^[2]
• 1748 – verb, to throw away through prudery (obsolete).^[2]
• 1809 – in the United States, any of various plants.^[2]
• 1881 – the modest extent or appearance of a thing; unpretentiousness.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality of not being vain or boastful; a moderate view of one's own abilities and achievements: Despite her fame, she spoke about her work with great modesty.^[6][8][2]
2. Propriety in dress, speech and behaviour; the avoidance of anything indecent or revealing.^[6][2][4]
3. Smallness of size, amount or cost; lack of pretension or luxury: the modesty of their first flat.^[2][4]
4. (modifier) Designed to prevent part of the body from being shown by accident, as in modesty panel.^[8]
5. (archaic) Freedom from excess or exaggeration; moderation.^[6][2][4]

Word family

• overmodesty
• modesty panel

Related words

• modest
• mode
• moderate
• modicum

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins