negligible

Etymology

The OED takes it as borrowed from French négligible, an obsolete French form recorded in 1834,^[2][3][4] from négliger (“to neglect”) with the suffix -ible.^[2][3] Barnhart and Etymonline instead take it as formed in English, from English negligence + -ible,^[5][6] and Barnhart thinks the French négligible and later négligeable were probably borrowed from English.^[5] Dictionary.com and the American Heritage Dictionary derive it from the stem of Latin neglegō (“to neglect”) with -ible,^[7][8] and the French verb comes from the same Latin verb.^[9] The Latin verb is literally "not to pick up", from nec (“not”) and legō (“to pick up”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Able to be disregarded: Etymonline dates it to 1819,^[6] Barnhart to 1829, in Sir John Herschel's essays,^[5] and the OED and Merriam-Webster Unabridged to 1841, in an address by Herschel.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant simply that a thing or quantity could be neglected or left out of account, especially because it was too small to matter.^[2][5] From 1895 it was also used of people, and occasionally of places, of no account or importance;^[2] the Shorter Oxford records the phrase negligible quantity for a person or thing that need not be taken into account.^[3]

Timeline

• 1819 – capable of being neglected.^[6]
• 1829 – trifling, unimportant, in Herschel.^[5]
• 1834 – French négligible.^[2][5]
• 1841 – of a quantity, so small that it can be disregarded, in Herschel.^[2][9]
• 1895 – of a person, of no account, in Saintsbury.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. So small or unimportant that it is not worth considering; trifling: The cost of the repair was negligible.^[10][9][2]
2. Of a person, of little worth or significance; one who can be passed over.^[2][3]

Word family

• negligibility
• negligibly
• nonnegligible

Related words

• neglect
• negligence
• negligent
• negligee

Usage notes

Collins and Merriam-Webster also give the less common spelling negligeable, which Merriam-Webster derives from négligeable.^[10][9]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins