promiscuous

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin prōmiscuus (“common, shared; indiscriminate, mixed”),^[2][3][4][5] with the ending -ous.^[2][4] The Latin adjective is formed from prō- (“forward”) and misceō (“to mix”),^[2][4][6][7] from Proto-Indo-European *meik- (“to mix”).^[3][8] It is thus related to mix, miscellaneous and miscellany.^[9][10][11] The OED compares Italian promiscuo, Spanish promiscuo and Portuguese promíscuo.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Done with no regard for order; random, indiscriminate: 1570, in Norton's Disclosing of the Great Bull.^[2][7] Barnhart gives 1603, Etymonline about 1600 and the Shorter Oxford the early 17th century.^[4][3][12]

Semantic evolution

The idea of mixing came first: the word described groups and things thrown together without order or distinction, and in Johnson (1755) it means "mingled; confused; undistinguished", with quotations such as Dryden's "rude promiscuous crowd".^[2][10][13] From this came "undiscriminating" and then "casual".^[10][14] Smollett used it in 1753 for someone who is part of a mixed company, a disparaging slang sense that died out in the 19th century,^[2] and Dickens's Pickwick Papers (1837) has the colloquial sense "casual, careless".^[2] Dialect speakers in Warwickshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent and Devon used it as an adverb for "by chance, unexpectedly", and in Derbyshire to live promiscuous meant to have everything in common.^[15] The sexual sense, now common, had a Latin parallel, since the Latin adjective was used of unions between patricians and plebeians.^[3] The OED finds the English sense in a letter of Coleridge from 1804,^[2] whereas Etymonline dates it by 1857 and Barnhart to 1900, both deriving it from promiscuity,^[3][4] which the OED records in the sexual sense from 1847.^[2] Late 20th-century biology and genetics extended it to proteins, organisms and DNA sequences that interact with or occur in more than one target or genome.^[2]

Timeline

• 1570 – random, indiscriminate.^[2][7]
• 1579 – made up of assorted parts in no order.^[2]
• 1616 – adverb, at random.^[2]
• 1633 – of an agent, making no distinctions.^[2]
• before 1637 – of common gender, in Jonson's English Grammar.^[2]
• 1753 – forming part of a mixed company (obsolete by 1889).^[2]
• 1804 – undiscriminating in sexual relations.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense by 1857,^[3] and Barnhart to 1900.^[4]
• 1826 – adverb, casually, without ceremony, in Disraeli's Vivian Grey.^[2]
• 1837 – casual, careless.^[2]
• 1972 – in biology, able to interact with a variety of hosts or targets.^[2]
• 1982 – in genetics, of a DNA sequence common to more than one genome in a cell.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having many casual sexual partners; indiscriminate in sexual relations.^[16][7][2]
2. Made up of different parts or kinds thrown together without order: a promiscuous heap of tools and toys.^[16][7][2]
3. Making no distinctions; not restricted to one sort or class: promiscuous use of antibiotics.^[16][7][2]
4. Casual or heedless.^[16] The OED records this colloquial sense only from 1837 to 1883.^[2]
5. (biology) Of a protein or organism, able to interact with or infect a variety of targets or hosts.^[2]
6. (genetics) Of a DNA sequence, common to more than one of the genomes in a cell.^[2]
7. (rare) Of common gender; epicene.^[2][12]

Adverb

1. (rare) Without order; at random.^[2][12]
2. (rare, colloquial) Casually, without ceremony.^[2]

Word family

• promiscuously
• promiscuousness
• nonpromiscuous
• promiscuity

Related words

• mix
• miscellaneous
• miscellany
• meddle
• medley
• melee

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 p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
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. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins