scandalous

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French scandaleux,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} or perhaps directly borrowed from Medieval Latin scandalōsus,^[5][8] from Ecclesiastical Latin scandalum (“stumbling block, cause of offence”), the source of scandal, with the suffix -ōsus (-ous).^[2][4][3] The Latin adjective is matched by escandaloso, escandaloso and scandaloso.^[2] The Latin noun is from Ancient Greek σκάνδαλον (skándalon, “a stumbling block, offence; a trap laid for an enemy”), a word that first appears in this form in the Septuagint and the New Testament.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Disgraceful, shameful, causing scandal or offence: late 15th century, in the spelling scandalouse, according to Etymonline.^[3] The OED's first record, from 1592 in the borough deeds of Maldon in Essex, is in the old sense "causing a stumbling block or occasion of offence";^[2] Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1575.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word began with the church sense of scandal: what made others stumble in faith or morals, or brought discredit on one's position (1592–1670),^[2][4] and in the 17th century it was applied to ministers held unfit for office for heresy or misconduct (1631–1702).^[2][4] From Shakespeare's Winter's Tale and Measure for Measure (before 1616) it took on the senses that survive, "grossly disgraceful" and, of words or writing, "defamatory, libellous";^[2][3] Johnson (1755) defined it first as giving public offence.^[7] In law, from 1750, a scandalous statement in pleadings was one that was not pertinent to the case.^[2] In the underworld slang of the late 17th and 18th centuries a scandalous was a periwig,^[2][9] and in Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Somerset dialect the adjective expressed general disapproval or meant "filthy".^[10] Green's Dictionary of Slang records a modern slang sense "extremely bad", originally in Black American use.^[9]

Timeline

• late 15th century – scandalouse, disgraceful, shameful.^[3]
• 1592 – causing a stumbling block or offence; discreditable to one's position (obsolete by 1670).^[2]
• before 1616 – grossly disgraceful; of words or writing, defamatory, in Shakespeare.^[2]
• 1631 – of a minister, unfit for office through heresy or misconduct (obsolete by 1702).^[2]
• 1699 – slang noun, a periwig.^[2][9]
• 1750 – law, of a statement, not pertinent to the case.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Causing outrage or offence by being grossly improper or shameful: a scandalous waste of public money.^[4][5][11]
2. Containing shocking or defamatory information; libellous: the scandalous gossip of the tabloids.^[4][2]
3. Of a person, guilty of disgraceful conduct; now rare.^[2][5]
4. In law, of a statement in pleadings, irrelevant to the case.^[2]
5. (obsolete) Causing others to lapse in faith or morals by example; of a clergyman, endangering faith or morals by conduct or views (1592–1702).^[4][2]

Word family

• scandalously
• scandalousness
• nonscandalous
• unscandalous

Related words

• scandal
• scandalize
• slander

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 f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ 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.
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
10. ^ 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)
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins