onerous

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English onerous, also honerous and onerose,^[2] partly borrowed from Old French onereus, also honereus,^[3][4][5][2] and partly directly borrowed from Latin onerōsus (“heavy, weighty, burdensome”),^[6][3][4] from the stem of onus (“burden, load”) and the suffix -ōsus.^[6][3][7] The OED dates the French word to before 1382, in Middle French, where it later also meant "given in exchange for a consideration" (1611, in Cotgrave); its modern form is onéreux.^[6][3] Etymonline traces the Latin noun to Proto-Indo-European *en-es- (“burden”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Burdensome, troublesome: 1395, in the Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards, which complain that the upkeep of the proud prelacy is "a gret charge and onerous" to the people.^[6][2] Barnhart places the first record in Wycliffe's writings.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word also appears in the Middle English Romaunt of the Rose, as honerous, burdensome.^[2][8] From 1539 it took a legal sense, of the nature of a legal burden or obligation, especially one that outweighs the possible benefits.^[6] In Scots law, from 1606, an onerous grant or contract was one made for value received, the opposite of a gratuitous one;^[6][9] Sinclair's Scoticisms (1787) explains that an estate sold "for an onerous cause" was sold for money at a sufficient price.^[9] Johnson (1755) defined the word as "burthensome; oppressive".^[10]

Timeline

• 1395 – burdensome, troublesome.^[6][2]
• 1539 – of the nature of a legal burden or obligation.^[6]
• 1606 – in Scots law, done or given for value received.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Involving a heavy, tiresome load of work, effort or responsibility; burdensome: Filling in the forms became an onerous chore.^[11][12][6]
2. (law) Of a contract, lease or the like, imposing obligations that outweigh the advantages.^[11][12][6]
3. (Scots law) Done or given in return for value, as opposed to gratuitous.^[6][12][9]

Word family

• onerously
• onerousness

Related words

• onus
• exonerate

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
9. ^ a b c 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)
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster