peaceful

Etymology

It is formed from English peace + -ful,^[2][3][4] and is recorded as pesful, also peesfull and paisful.^[3][5][6] The noun peace is from Anglo-Norman pes, also Old French pais,^[2][3] from Latin pāx (“peace, compact, tranquillity”),^[2][3] which Etymonline takes back to Proto-Indo-European *pag- (“to fasten”),^[3] and which the OED connects with the stem of pangō.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Inclined to peace, friendly: before 1400 in a manuscript of the Cursor Mundi, a text composed before 1325,^[2][5] where Joseph is greeted with Paisful bi þe cuming hider.^[5] Etymonline dates it to the early 14th century,^[3] and Dictionary.com gives 1250–1300.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The sense "tranquil, untroubled" followed at once, before 1400, in a manuscript of Rolle's Psalter composed about 1340,^[2] or the mid-14th century in Etymonline.^[3] Over time it displaced the first sense: the Shorter Oxford marks "peaceable" as now rare,^[4] and Dictionary.com says the word is rarely said of people today.^[7] The sense "of a time of peace" appears about 1595; the OED considers it obsolete after 1863, although the Shorter Oxford and Collins treat it as current.^[2][4][8] Johnson (1755) listed "quiet; not in war", "pacifick; mild" and "undisturbed; still; secure",^[9] and in 1773 he labelled the first of these a poetical use.^[9] The sense of nonviolent means of bringing about change dates from 1876, in G. Howell's handbook of labour laws;^[2][3] peaceful picketing is one of the phrases that shows it.^[4][8] Peaceful coexistence (1920) was first said of Soviet policy towards the capitalist West.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1400 – inclined to peace, friendly.^[2][5] Etymonline dates this to the early 14th century.^[3]
• before 1400 – free from disturbance, calm, quiet.^[2] Etymonline dates this to the mid-14th century.^[3]
• 1526 – with the, peaceful people as a class.^[2]
• c. 1595 – belonging to a time or state of peace.^[2]
• 1876 – not using force or violence, especially of ways to bring about an end.^[2][3]
• 1920 – peaceful coexistence, of Soviet policy towards the West.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Free from disturbance or commotion; calm, tranquil: a peaceful valley at dawn.^[8][6][2]
2. Not at war or in conflict.^[8][6]
3. Not using force or violence: a peaceful march on the town hall.^[8][2][4]
4. Of or suited to a time of peace.^[8][4]
5. (now rare) Inclined to peace; peaceable.^[4][6][8]

Word family

• peacefully
• peacefulness
• unpeaceful
• peaceful coexistence

Related words

• peace
• peaceable
• pact
• pax

Usage notes

Dictionary.com says peaceful now mostly describes situations, scenes and activities free of disturbance, or occasionally of war, while placid, serene and tranquil are used mainly of people.^[7]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d 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)
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.