revile

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English revilen,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman revilir, also revilier and reviller,^[4] and Old French reviler (“to consider vile, despise”).^{[5][6][7][8][9]} The revised OED dates the Anglo-Norman and Middle French verb to the first half of the 12th century in the sense "to despise", and to the end of the 13th century or earlier in the senses "to degrade" and "to insult".^[4] It is formed from re-, perhaps here an intensive,^[6][7] and vil (“low, base, cheap”),^{[4][5][9][10]} which is from Latin vīlis (“cheap, worthless, base”), the source of vile.^[6] Etymonline takes the second part as aviler (“to make vile or cheap”),^[6] an Anglo-Norman verb recorded from 1155 for bringing disgrace and for subjecting to abuse.^[11] The OED compares French ravilir (“to degrade, debase”) and Italian ravvilire (“to degrade, humiliate”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To degrade or abuse: about 1303, in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne,^[12][7] and about 1300 in Etymonline, for "to debase".^[6] The revised OED begins its record much later, before 1393, in Gower's Confessio Amantis.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The Middle English verb covered both harsh words and lowered standing: it could mean to insult or denounce someone, to slander, and to debase a person's rank or the image of God.^[2] Etymonline places the sense "to assail with abusive language" in the middle of the 14th century,^[6] and the Middle English Dictionary has it in Mannyng's Chronicle, composed before 1338, where it renders French avylait.^[2] Gower has both senses: a son beaten and reviled by his family, and the sense "to debase".^[4][13] That second sense died out, the last OED record being from 1656.^[4] The intransitive use is recorded from before 1460, and the OED now calls it rare.^[4] A noun formed from the verb meant abuse from 1439 to 1808, and an abusive remark from 1579 to 1645.^[4] Johnson (1755) called the noun "not used, but elegant", citing Milton, and defined the verb as to reproach or vilify.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1303 – to degrade, to abuse.^[7] Etymonline gives about 1300 for "to debase, degrade".^[6]
• before 1338 – to abuse or insult, in a manuscript of about 1400.^[2]
• before 1393 – transitive, to degrade or abase (obsolete after 1656).^[4]
• 1439 – noun, abuse or slander (obsolete after 1808).^[4]
• before 1460 – intransitive, to talk abusively.^[4][2]
• 1579 – noun, an abusive remark (obsolete after 1645).^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To attack someone or something with abusive or scornful language: The columnist reviled the mayor for years.^{[5][3][15][4]}
2. To speak abusively; to rail: now rare.^[5][3][4]
3. (obsolete) To degrade or abase.^[4][8]

Noun

1. (obsolete) Abuse, or an abusive remark.^[4][3][14]

Word family

• revilement
• reviler
• revilingly
• unreviled
• unreviling

Related words

• vile
• vilify

References

1. ^ 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 i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
13. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
14. ^ 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.
15. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins