riddance

Etymology

It is formed from English rid + -ance.^[2][3][4][5] The OED compares the earlier noun ridding.^[2] The verb rid goes back to Middle English ridden (“to clear, set free”), first recorded about 1200, from an unrecorded Old English *ryddan or from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse ryðja (“to clear land”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A deliverance or relief that consists in getting rid of something: 1524, in an English translation of a work by J. de Bourbon.^[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to the 1530s, in the sense "a cleaning out, removal".^[3]

Semantic evolution

Within a few years of its first record the word meant both the relief of being rid of something (1524) and the act of removing it (1528, in Tyndale),^[2][3] and it was formerly frequent in to make (clean) riddance of.^[2][6] It was also used from 1558 for progress or dispatch in one's work, a sense that lasted into the 19th century.^[2][4] The exclamation good riddance is recorded from about 1525 in the OED,^[2] and Etymonline dates it to the 1650s, noting Shakespeare's gentle riddance and Middleton's fair riddance before it;^[3] Johnson (1755) quoted a gentle riddance from The Merchant of Venice for the sense "loss of something one is glad to lose".^[7] The fuller good riddance to bad rubbish is also recorded.^[2]

Timeline

• 1524 – a deliverance or relief from something unwanted.^[2][4]
• c. 1525 – the exclamation good riddance.^[2]
• 1528 – the act of getting rid of something; removal, clearance.^[2]
• c. 1542 – disposal of goods by sale.^[2]
• 1558 – progress or efficiency in work (obsolete by 1839).^[2]
• 1598 – progress in movement (obsolete by 1882).^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of getting rid of something; removal or clearance.^[8][4][2]
2. Deliverance or relief from something or someone unwanted, especially in good riddance: When the noisy neighbours moved out, it was a good riddance.^[8][4][2]
3. good riddance (to bad rubbish): an exclamation of relief at being rid of someone or something.^[2][8]
4. (obsolete) Progress in a task; dispatch of work (1558–1839).^[2][4]

Related words

• rid

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins