rejoinder

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English rejoinder, also rejonder,^[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman rejoindre, the infinitive used as a noun,^[3][4][5][6] recorded as a noun in Anglo-Norman before 1339.^[3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Klein give a Middle English form rejoiner.^[6][7] As a verb it meant to answer a charge or pleading in law,^[3][8][9] and it is from Old French re- (“back”) and joindre (“to join”), from Latin iungō (“to join together, yoke”), from Proto-Indo-European *yeug- (“to join”).^[8] Law French used other infinitives as nouns in the same way, as in attainder and waiver.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A defendant's answer to a claimant's reply: 1447, in the letters of John Shillingford, answeres to their articulis of compleyntes and rejoynders to the same.^[2][3] Etymonline dates it to the mid-15th century.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In common-law pleading the rejoinder was the fourth stage of an action, after the plaintiff's replication.^[8] The general use began as a specific one, an answer to a reply: it is in the title of T. Churchyard's Surreioindre vnto Camels Reioindre, of about 1552.^[3][4] In rejoinder follows in Heywood's Spider and Flie of 1556.^[3] Johnson (1755) gave both "reply to an answer" and plain "reply; answer".^[10] The word now means any reply, especially a sharp or witty one that disagrees with what was said,^[3][11] and the OED marks the legal sense as historical.^[3] A verb, formed from the noun, is recorded from 1659, and is now usually followed by direct speech.^[3]

Timeline

• 1447 – in law, a defendant's answer to a claimant's reply.^[3][2]
• c. 1552 – general, an answer to a reply; later any sharp or witty response.^[3][4]
• 1556 – in rejoinder, in response.^[3]
• 1659 – verb, to reply, especially to an accusation.^[3]
• before 1660 – verb, transitive, to say as a reply.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An answer, often a sharp or clever comeback; a retort: Her rejoinder silenced the heckler.^[11][6][3]
2. (law) In traditional pleading, a defendant's answer to the plaintiff's replication.^[11][6][3]

Verb

1. To make a reply, or to say something in reply.^[3]

Word family

• surrejoinder

Related words

• rejoin
• join
• joinder

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
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 c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins