rampant

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English raumpaunt, also rampaunt,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Anglo-Norman rampant or Old French rampant (“creeping, crawling; rearing”),^[6][2][5] the present participle used as an adjective of ramper (“to climb, scale; to creep, crawl”), the source of ramp.^{[2][3][4][7][6]} The OED regards the English word as partly formed from the English verb ramp as well.^[6] In Anglo-Norman the participle is recorded from the first half of the 12th century, in the phrase choses rampantes (“reptiles”), and in French from about 1200 for a four-legged animal rearing on its hind foot, often in heraldry;^[6] the Anglo-Norman verb meant to pounce, climb, rear or crawl.^[8] The verb is of uncertain origin: Etymonline suggests Frankish *rampon (“to contract oneself”), comparing Old High German rimpfan (“to wrinkle”) and Old English hrimpan (“to fold, wrinkle”), from Proto-Germanic *hrimp- (“to contract oneself”), through the bodily contraction involved in climbing.^[2] The same French verb gave rampage.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of an animal, especially a lion, rearing up or standing with the forepaws in the air, often threateningly: about 1300, in The Childhood of Jesus.^[6][2][3]

Semantic evolution

From the rearing beast the word passed to the beast's temper: "fierce, ravenous" is recorded before 1387 in Trevisa and before 1382 in the Wycliffite Bible,^[6][3][2] where the OED notes that it translates Latin words meaning "grasping" and "seizing".^[6] The strict heraldic sense, a beast standing on one hind foot with the forepaws raised, is recorded from 1449,^[6] and Johnson (1755) quoted Milton's "The lion rampant shakes his brinded mane".^[10] The Oxford Dictionary of English traces the current sense, "unrestrained", to the sense "fierce".^[11] Of something unwelcome spreading unchecked it is recorded before 1540,^[6] and of growth without check from 1619 according to Barnhart, who sees in it the only English trace of the French sense "creep, climb";^[3] Etymonline allows either explanation.^[2] Plants have been called rampant, rank or luxuriant, since 1648,^[6] and Johnson's first sense was "exuberant; overgrowing restraint".^[10] An arch with its springing points at different heights has been called rampant in architecture since 1725.^[6][12]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – of an animal, rearing on the hind legs.^[6][2][3]
• before 1382 – fierce, ravenous, in the Wycliffite Bible.^[3]
• 1449 – heraldic, standing on one hind foot with the forepaws raised.^[6]
• before 1540 – spreading unchecked, unrestrained.^[6]
• 1596 – lustful, vicious (now rare).^[6]
• probably 1609 – of a person, violent or unrestrained.^[6]
• 1619 – growing without check.^[3]
• 1648 – of plants, rank, luxuriant.^[6]
• 1725 – of an arch, with abutments at different levels.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Spreading or growing without check, especially of something unwelcome: Corruption was rampant in the port.^[12][7][6]
2. Unrestrained or violent in behaviour, desire or opinion.^[12][6]
3. Of plants, growing thickly and luxuriantly.^[6][10]
4. Of an animal, rearing up on its hind legs with the forepaws raised.^[7][6]
5. In heraldry, of a beast, shown standing on one hind leg with the forelegs raised, usually after the noun: a lion rampant.^[12][7][6]
6. Of an arch, having one abutment higher than the other.^[12][6]
7. (rare) Fierce or high-spirited.^[7][6]

Word family

• rampancy
• rampantly

Related words

• ramp
• rampage

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b 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 m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins