negligence

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English negligence, also necgligens and necligence,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman negligence,^[4][2][5][6] also neccligence and necligence,^[4] and negligentia (“lack of care, carelessness”), a variant of neglegentia, also neclegentia.^[4][5][2][7] The Latin noun is formed from neglegēns (“heedless, careless”), the present participle of neglegō (“to neglect, disregard”),^[5][2][7] the source of neglect.^[5][7] The French word is recorded in the first half of the 12th century,^[4][6] and in Old French it could also mean sloth, injury or injustice.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lack of attention to what ought to be done; failure to take proper care: about 1340, as necgligens, according to Barnhart,^[2] and 1351 in the Statutes of the Realm according to the OED.^[4] Etymonline dates it to the mid-14th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Anglo-Norman the word also named sloth, one of the seven deadly sins.^[6] In Middle English it was used from about 1390 for disregard of something, a sense the OED records until 1847.^[4] From before 1450 it also meant a careless ease in appearance, dress or artistic style, and later freedom from artificiality.^[4] A single careless act has been a negligence since Chaucer's Legend of Good Women.^[4] Johnson (1755) gave the "habit of omitting by heedlessness" and an "instance of neglect".^[8] The legal sense, failure to do what a reasonable person would do, was established by the late 17th century.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1340 – necgligens, carelessness.^[2]
• 1351 – lack of proper care, in the Statutes of the Realm.^[4]
• c. 1390 – disregard of something (obsolete by 1847).^[4]
• c. 1450 – an instance of carelessness, in a manuscript of Chaucer.^[4]
• before 1450 – careless ease in dress or style.^[4]
• before 1691 – law, failure to take reasonable care.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality or state of being negligent; lack of proper care or attention.^[9][3][4]
2. (law) Failure to take the care that a reasonable person would take, in breach of a duty of care, causing loss or injury to another.^[9][3][4]
3. A negligent act; a careless omission.^[9][3][4]
4. A careless ease or lack of restraint in manner, dress or style.^[4]

Word family

• contributory negligence

Related words

• negligent
• neglect
• negligible

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d 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 p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins