Etymologically
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offend

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English offenden,[2][3] borrowed from Old French ofendre, also offendre,[4][5][6] and directly borrowed from Latin offendō (“to strike against, stumble, displease”).[4][5][6][7] The Latin verb is formed from ob- (“against”), assimilated to of- before f, and -fendō (“to strike”), a verb found only in compounds and also the source of defend.[4][5][8][9] The American Heritage Dictionary refers it to the root Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen-.[10] The Anglo-Norman verb, recorded from the early 12th century, already meant to strike, to wrong a person, to sin against God and to break a law.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To strike one's foot against something, and to be displeased (in the passive): both in the early Wycliffite Bible, before 1382.[6] Etymonline dates the word to the early 14th century, in the now obsolete sense "to disobey or sin against a person, human or divine",[4] and Barnhart to about 1350–75, as offendien, to sin against, displease, do wrong.[12][5]

Semantic evolution

The literal Latin sense "to strike against, stumble" was used in Wycliffe's Bible and soon died out,[6] and the related sense of a moral stumble gave "to sin, to do wrong, to break a rule" from about 1384, still current in the legal sense of committing a crime.[6][4] Biblical English also used it for "to cause to stumble, to shock morally" (Tyndale, 1526, to 1658).[6] The sense of hurting someone's feelings, now the main one, is recorded from Trevisa before 1387.[6][4] Ayto notes that the literal sense "to attack" survived in English for a time, with an act of Henry VIII's reign speaking of the navy as a means "as well to offend as defend", and that it lives on in offence and offensive, while the verb keeps only "hurt the feelings" and "violate".[9][4] Chaucer used the verb fourteen times, in the senses offend, displease, injure and assail.[13] Johnson (1755) gave "to make angry" as its first sense.[14] In Norfolk dialect the passive be offended meant to regret or grieve.[15]

Timeline

  • early 14th century – to disobey or sin against a person (Etymonline's date).[4]
  • before 1382 – to strike one's foot against something (obsolete by 1563); to be displeased.[6]
  • c. 1384 – to commit a sin, do wrong, break a rule.[6]
  • before 1387 – to hurt the feelings of, to displease; to sin against or wrong a person (obsolete by 1798).[6]
  • c. 1425 – intransitive, to give offence, to be offensive.[6]
  • 1472–75 – offender, a lawbreaker.[12][5]
  • 1526 – to cause to stumble, to shock morally (obsolete by 1658).[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To hurt the feelings of someone or make them resentful: She was offended that nobody had asked her opinion.[16][3][6]
  2. To be unpleasant or disagreeable to the senses or to one's taste: The bright neon sign offended the neighbours' eyes.[16][3]
  3. To break a law or rule; to commit a crime or sin, often with against: Few of those released offended again.[16][3][6]
  4. (obsolete, 1382–1475) To stumble, or to strike one's foot against something.[3][6]
  5. (obsolete, 1387–1798) To sin against or wrong a person; to violate a law.[6][2]

Word family

  • offender
  • offendable
  • offendedly
  • offendedness
  • reoffend

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  12. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  13. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  16. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins