reprehensible

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English reprehensible,^[2][3] partly borrowed from Middle French reprehensible and partly directly borrowed from Latin reprehēnsibilis (“blameworthy”),^[4][5][2] which the OED records from the 2nd century AD and most dictionaries call Late Latin.^[4][6][3][7] The French word is recorded in Old French from the early 14th century or earlier,^[4] and Etymonline dates it to the 14th century.^[5] The Latin adjective is formed from reprehēnsus, the past participle of reprehendō (“to blame, censure; to hold back”), and -ibilis.^[4][8][3] Reprehendō is formed from re- (“back”) and prehendō (“to grasp, seize”),^[5][9] so that it literally meant to pull or hold back.^[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Deserving of blame or rebuke: about 1384, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible, which says of Peter at Galatians 2:11 that "he was reprehensyble, or worthi for to be reprouyd", for Latin reprehensibilis.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed close to the Latin one, "deserving censure", since the 14th century; the OED's definition extends it to what is morally detestable.^[4][2] Middle English also had reprehendable in the same sense from the mid 14th century.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined reprehensible as "blameable; culpable; censurable".^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1384 – deserving censure or rebuke, in the Wycliffite Bible.^[4][2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Deserving blame, censure or rebuke; blameworthy or culpable: Lying to the inspectors was morally reprehensible.^[3][7][4]

Word family

• reprehensibility
• reprehensibly
• reprehensibleness
• nonreprehensible
• unreprehensible

Related words

• reprehend
• reprehensive
• reprehension
• prehensile
• reprisal
• prison

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.