obscene

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əbˈsin/; /əbˈsiːn/ (UK)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French obscène,^[2][3][4] from Latin obscēnus (“offensive, especially to modesty; originally ill-omened”),^{[5][2][3][4][6]} a word of unknown origin,^[3] perhaps from ob “onto, before” and caenum “filth”.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Offensive to the senses or to taste; disgusting, foul (1593).^[7][2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The sense “offensive to modesty or decency, lewd” followed almost at once (1598),^[7][3] and the Latin sense “ill-omened” was briefly used in the 17th century.^[7][2] In law, obscenity is the most severe category of indecency, defined in the United States by tests set by the Supreme Court in 1957 and 1973.^[3][1] A modern weakened sense is “so excessive as to be offensive”, as in obscene wealth.^[4][1]

Timeline

• 1589 – obscenity.^[2]
• 1593 – disgusting, repulsive.^[7][2][4]
• 1598 – offensive to decency, lewd.^[7]
• 1635–56 – ill-omened (obsolete).^[7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Offensive to accepted standards of decency or modesty; indecent.
2. Tending to arouse lust; lewd.
3. Disgusting or repulsive to the senses.
4. So excessive as to be offensive, as in obscene profits.

Word family

• obscenely
• obsceneness

Related words

• obscenity
• lewd
• profane

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press