Etymologically
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murderous

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 21:10. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈmɜːdəɹəs/, /ˈmɜːdɹəs/[1]
  • US: /ˈmɝdəɹəs/, /ˈmɝdɹəs/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English murder + -ous,[2][3][4][5] a hybrid of a Germanic word and a suffix that goes back to Latin -ōsus.[6][4] The OED compares Middle French mordreux (“murderer”) of the 14th century.[2] Murder is from Middle English murther, from Old English morþor (“secret or unlawful killing”),[7][4] from Proto-Germanic *murþrą, the source also of Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌸𐍂 (maurþr),[4][8] from a suffixed form of Proto-Indo-European *mer- (“to rub away, harm; to die”).[4][7][8] Etymonline notes that Old English had its own word for "murderous", morðorhycgende.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a person, guilty of or intent on murder: 1535, in Coverdale's Bible (Zephaniah).[2][9] Etymonline dates the sense "guilty of murder" to the 1530s.[4]

Semantic evolution

From 1565, in Gorboduc, the adjective was used of weapons and other things that cause death, and of what relates to or involves murder;[2] Etymonline dates "involved in murder" to the 1590s.[4] Shakespeare used it of an act of the nature of murder.[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "bloody; guilty of murder; addicted to blood", quoting Othello.[10] The original sense "guilty of murder" is now obsolete or rare.[2][3] In a weakened, informal sense, from about 1900 (Frank Norris), it means exhausting or very unpleasant, like killing.[2][11] The Shorter Oxford records the older form murtherous as archaic and dialectal.[3]

Timeline

  • 1535 – of a person, guilty of or intent on murder, in Coverdale's Bible.[2][9]
  • 1565 – of a weapon, deadly; also, characterized by murder, in Gorboduc.[2]
  • before 1616 – of the nature of murder, in Shakespeare.[2]
  • before 1902 – exhausting or overpowering, in Frank Norris.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Intending, capable of, or inclined to murder; brutal or violent: a murderous gang.[11][9][2]
  2. Causing or able to cause death; deadly: The troops advanced under murderous fire.[9][2]
  3. Of, involving or characterized by murder.[9][2][3]
  4. (informal) Very difficult, dangerous or unpleasant; exhausting: a murderous climb in the midday heat.[11][2]

Word family

  • murderously
  • murderousness
  • nonmurderous

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  9. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins