novelty

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English novelte,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman novelté,^[4][3][5] formed from novel (“new”) and the suffix -té, the source of English -ty.^[4][3] The word is recorded in Old French from about 1160, and in Anglo-Norman from the first half of the 12th century, with senses such as newness, innovation and new practice;^[4][5] its modern French form is nouveauté.^[4][6] Klein and Dictionary.com trace it further to Late Latin novellitās (“newness”),^[7][8] from Latin novellus (“new, young”), a diminutive of novus (“new”), which is related to new.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Something new, unusual or unfamiliar: about 1384, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible.^[4] The MED's earliest quotation, Trevisa's translation of Higden (before 1387), uses it for the quality of being new or strange.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Middle English used the word both for newness and for a new manner, fashion or innovation;^[6][2] from 1395 it could be a new custom or practice, often an unwelcome one, as in the Anglo-Norman.^[4][5] From the 15th to the early 17th century it also meant news or tidings.^[4] From 1581 it was also innovation in belief, heresy, a sense now historical.^[4] An earlier word for the same idea was novelrie, novelry (about 1300).^[6] Johnson (1755) defined it as "newness; state of being unknown to former times".^[9] The sense of a cheap, often useless but decorative or amusing object appears in an advertisement of 1840 in the OED, and by 1888 in Etymonline, with the novelty shop by 1893.^[4][6] In the 20th century it was used attributively for frivolous music or entertainment (1915) and for fabrics of unusual design (1916).^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1384 – something new or unfamiliar, in the Wycliffite Bible.^[4]
• before 1387 – the novel or strange character of something, in Trevisa.^[4][2]
• 1395 – a new custom or practice; an innovation.^[4]
• 1402 – the quality of being new, in Hoccleve.^[4]
• before 1450 – news, tidings (obsolete by 1613).^[4]
• 1581 – innovation in belief; heresy.^[4]
• 1840 – a small decorative or amusing object.^[4]
• 1893 – novelty shop.^[6]
• 1915 – attributive, of music or entertainment meant to amuse.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality of being new, fresh and interesting: The novelty of the job soon wore off.^[10][3][4]
2. Something new or unusual; a new experience or event.^[10][3][4]
3. A small, cheap toy, ornament or trinket, often useless but amusing, usually in the plural.^[10][4][3]
4. (attributive) Of an unusual or amusing design or kind: a novelty teapot.^[4][10][3]

Related words

• novel
• new
• novice
• innovation

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins