obstacle

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English obstacle, also obstakel and obstakle,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman obstacle, also obstakel,^[4] and Old French obstacle, earlier ostacle,^[4][5][3][6] and partly directly from Latin obstāculum (“a hindrance, obstruction”).^[3][5][2] The Old French word is recorded from about 1225,^[4] and the Anglo-Norman one, meaning a hindrance, including one to a legal step, from about 1200.^[7] The Latin noun, recorded from the 2nd century AD, is formed from obstō (“to stand in the way, hinder”) and the suffix -culum;^[4][6] Etymonline and Klein see in it the instrumental suffix Proto-Indo-European *-tlom.^[5][8] The verb comes from ob- (“against, in front of”) and stō (“to stand”),^[4][5][9][6] from Proto-Indo-European *sta- (“to stand, make or be firm”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Something that stands in the way; a hindrance: Barnhart finds obstakil about 1340 in Richard Rolle's Psalter, and obstacle about 1385 in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.^[3] The OED's first quotation is the Chaucer one, from the Knight's Tale (c. 1385).^[4]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word was used of literal and figurative barriers alike.^[4][2] In Middle English one could make obstacle, to cause a hindrance or to object, a phrase that lasted, chiefly in Scotland, until 1632;^[2][4] withouten obstacle meant without hindrance.^[2] Chaucer used the word three times.^[10] In the 16th century obstacle was also an adjective meaning "obstinate", as in Shakespeare's 1 Henry VI: "Fie, Joan, that thou wilt be so obstacle!",^[11][12] and a verb, to put obstacles in someone's way (1538).^[4][11] Johnson (1755) defined it as "something opposed; hindrance; obstruction".^[13] Weekley says that obstacle race was coined in 1869 by the honorary secretary of the London Athletic Club;^[14] Etymonline dates obstacle course by 1891.^[5] In British show jumping an obstacle is a fence or hedge.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1340 – obstakil, a hindrance, in Rolle.^[3]
• c. 1385 – obstacle, in Chaucer.^[4][3]
• c. 1425 – to make obstacle, to resist or object (obsolete by 1632).^[4]
• 1535 – adjective, obstinate (obsolete by 1616).^[4][11]
• 1538 – verb, to put obstacles in the way of (obsolete).^[4]
• 1869 – obstacle race.^[14]
• 1891 – obstacle course.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Something that stands in the way or holds back progress; a hindrance or obstruction: The main obstacle to the merger was the price.
2. (British) A fence or hedge to be jumped in show jumping.

Word family

• obstacle course
• obstacle race

Related words

• obstinate
• obstetric
• stand
• state

Usage notes

Dictionary.com distinguishes it from its near-synonyms: an obstacle stands in the way of progress, material or not; an obstruction blocks a passage more or less completely; a hindrance holds back by interfering and delaying; and an impediment interferes with proper working.^[16]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
11. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House