remark

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French remarquer (“to observe, take notice of”),^[2][3][4][5] recorded in French from 1549, in the sense "to single out a person" from 1585, and in the sense "to make a remark" from before 1662.^[2] The French verb is formed from re-, here probably an intensive prefix, and marquer (“to mark, note”),^[2][6][7][8] which probably comes from a Germanic source: Barnhart and Etymonline compare Old High German marchōn (“to delimit”),^[8][6] and the AHD traces it ultimately to Old Norse merki (“mark, sign”);^[9] it is thus related to mark.^[6][10][11] Hoad says that the French verb replaced Old French remerquier and was probably modelled on Italian rimarcare,^[12] but the OED dates the Italian verb only from 1630 and takes it from French.^[2] Barnhart treats the English verb as in most instances re-formed from re- and the verb mark on the French model.^[8] The noun, from 1614, is taken by the OED as formed from the English verb, though it compares French remarque;^[2] the Shorter Oxford, Dictionary.com and Klein derive it from that French noun, which was formed from remarquer.^[4][5][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

To observe, take notice of, perceive: 1581, in N. Burne's Disputation.^[2] Merriam-Webster also dates the verb to 1581, and the Shorter Oxford to the late 16th century,^[3][4] while Etymonline and Barnhart date it to the 1630s, in the now obsolete sense "to mark out, distinguish".^[6][8]

Semantic evolution

The early verb could mean to point out or indicate (1592–1787) and to mark out or distinguish (1633–71, in Ford's ’Tis Pitty Shee’s a Whore);^[2][8] Trench (1859) noted that to remark had once meant to point out or designate, and that only verbal remarks were left.^[14] The sense of saying or writing something as a comment followed in 1666, and the intransitive remark on in 1676.^[2] Weekley explains the commenting sense as growing out of that of calling attention to particular points, and Ayto as coming from the notion of making a verbal observation.^[10][11] The noun went the same way: observation or notice (1614), a spoken or written comment (1629), and of great remark, worthy of notice (before 1618, now literary), while its senses "a mark or sign of a quality" (1624–1864) and "an act of observing" (1628–1855) died out.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as "observation; note; notice taken".^[15] In Shetland dialect in remark meant remarkable or exceptional.^[16]

Timeline

• 1581 – to observe, take notice of.^[2][3]
• 1592 – to point out; to comment on (obsolete by 1787).^[2]
• 1614 – noun, observation, notice.^[2]
• before 1618 – of great remark, worthy of notice.^[2]
• 1624 – noun, a mark or sign of a quality (obsolete by 1864).^[2]
• 1629 – noun, a spoken or written comment.^[2]
• 1633 – to mark out, distinguish (obsolete by 1671).^[2][8]
• 1666 – to say or write as a comment.^[2]
• 1676 – intransitive, to remark on something.^[2]
• 1755 – Johnson defines the noun as observation or notice.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. To say something as a casual comment; to mention in passing: He remarked that the room was cold.^[17][2][3]
2. To make a comment on or upon something: Few guests remarked on the new curtains.^[17][2]
3. To notice or perceive; to observe.^[17][2][3]
4. (obsolete) To point out; to mark out or distinguish.^[2][3][4]

Noun

1. A brief spoken or written comment; a passing expression of opinion: a rude remark.^[17][2][3]
2. Notice or comment: The change went by without remark.^[17][2][3]
3. of remark: worthy of notice (literary).^[2]

Word family

• remarker
• remarkable

Related words

• mark
• marque
• remarque

Usage notes

Dictionary.com distinguishes remark, a casual passing expression of opinion, from comment, which explains or judges a particular point, note, a written memorandum or explanation, and observation, a comment based on judgment and experience.^[5] In engraving, remark is also a spelling of remarque, altered after mark and recorded from 1859, usually in remark proof.^[2][17]

References

1. ^ a b 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d 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 Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
14. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
15. ^ 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.
16. ^ 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)
17. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins