nonchalant

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈnɒn.ʃəl.ənt/ (UK); /ˌnɑn.ʃəˈlɑnt/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French nonchalant (“careless, indifferent”),^[2][3][4] present participle of nonchaloir “to be unconcerned”,^[2][3][4] from non- “not” and chaloir “to concern”,^[2][3][4] from Latin calēre (“to be warm”).^[2][3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first meant lacking warmth of feeling, enthusiasm or interest; indifferent.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

American Heritage notes that the Latin verb had developed the figurative sense “to be fired with zeal”, and the nonchalant person lacks such warmth.^[2] The modern word stresses a cool, casual calm.^[2][5][1]

Timeline

• 1734 – first recorded.^[3][6][4]
• 1840 – nonchalantly.^[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Coolly unconcerned or indifferent; casual.

Word family

• nonchalantly

Related words

• nonchalance
• calorie

References

1. [1] [2] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. [1] [2] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
6. [1] [2] [3] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press