Etymologically
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obedient

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /əˈbiːdɪənt/, /əʊˈbiːdɪənt/[1]
  • US: /əˈbidiənt/, /oʊˈbidiənt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English obedient, also obediant and obediand,[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman obediant and Old French obedient,[3][4][5] from Latin oboediēns (“obedient, compliant”), the present participle of oboediō (“to obey”).[3][6][7][8] The Latin verb meant literally to listen to, and is formed from ob- (“to”) and audiō (“to hear”),[6][7][3] from Proto-Indo-European *au- (“to perceive”).[6][7] The Old French adjective is recorded from the early 12th century,[3] and the Anglo-Norman one from the first third of that century.[4] The northern Middle English and Scots forms in “-and” show the ending altered after the native present-participle suffix.[3] Compare ubbidiente, obediente and obediente.[3] It is related to obey and obedience.[5][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Willing to obey, submissive to another's authority, often with to: about 1225, in the Ancrene Riwle, of two women obedient to their mistress in all things.[3][2] Barnhart dates it probably before 1200 in the same text,[5] and Etymonline to about 1200, in the sense of being willing to serve someone or to fulfil an obligation.[6]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word was used of submission to rule.[3][2] From before 1398, in Trevisa, it was also used of simply being subject to another's authority, a sense the OED now calls archaic.[3][2] Around 1400 it could mean yielding or open to persuasion, a sense lost by the end of the 15th century.[3] The figurative use for things that respond to an outside force, such as a part of the body moved by the will, also dates from Trevisa,[3] and Gower applied it to signs of the zodiac depending on others.[3] The courteous formula your obedient servant, recorded from 1543, was used at leave-taking and later chiefly to close a formal letter.[3][10] Johnson (1755) defined it as submissive to authority, compliant with command, and also obsequious.[11] The noun, an obedient person or subordinate, is recorded from before 1500.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1225 – willing to obey; submissive to authority, in the Ancrene Riwle.[3][2]
  • before 1393 – of a zodiac sign, dependent on another (now obsolete).[3]
  • before 1398 – subject to the authority of another; of a thing, moved by an outside force.[3]
  • c. 1400 – yielding, open to influence (obsolete by 1496).[3]
  • before 1500 – noun, an obedient person, a subordinate.[3]
  • 1543 – your obedient servant, as a formula of courtesy.[3]
  • before 1586 – of behaviour, expressing obedience, in Sidney.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Doing what one is told, or willing to do it; submissive to authority: an obedient sheepdog.[12][8][3]
  2. Of behaviour, showing obedience.[3]
  3. Of a thing, moving or acting in response to an outside force or control.[3]
  4. (archaic) Subject to the rule of another.[3][8]
  5. your obedient servant: a formula once used to close a formal letter.[3][10]

Noun

  1. An obedient person.[8][3]

Word family

  • obediently
  • overobedient
  • superobedient

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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 h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  5. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins